India’s Non – Fossil Fuel Milestone

January 6, 2022

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently announced that India has reached its non – fossil fuel target much ahead of 2030.

What is the milestone achieved?

At the COP21, India had pledged to install 40% of overall electric energy from non – renewable sources. India aimed to achieve this target by 2030. But it has now achieved this well ahead in November 2021.

What is the achieved target?

The total installed electric capacity of India is 392.01 GW. Of this, the total non – fossil- fuel based energy is 157.32 GW. This is 40.1% of 392.01 GW to be precise.

How did India achieve the target so early?

The achieved target is a part of Nationally Determined Contributions. The NDCs were pledged in 2015 Paris Agreement. India was keen in implementing the NDC very sincerely since signing the agreement. India is the only G-20 country that has been meeting its climate goals. This helped India achieve the target early. Under NDC, India pledged to increase its total electricity generation from fossil fuel to 40% of the total electricity generation in the country. India had also pledged to reduce the emissions by 33% as compared to 2005 levels. The NDCs are to be achieved by 2030.

What steps were taken to achieve the target?

India increased its investment in renewable energy programmes. According to REN21 Renewables 2020 Global Status Report, India made total investment of 64.6 billion USD in renewable energy sector. In 2019 alone, India invested 11.2 billion USD in the sector.
Between 2015 and 20121, the Foreign Direct Investment in the non – conventional energy sector of India was 7.27 billion USD.

Role of AGC in the achievement

AGC is Automatic Generation Control. AGC aims to install 500 GW of non – fossil fuel electricity by 2030. AGC is operated by POSOCO (Power System Operation Corporation). Under AGC, 51 GW of electricity has been installed so far.

What does AGC do?

The National Load Dispatch Centre sends signals (frequency monitoring data) to 50 power plants through AGC. The data is sent every four seconds. The frequency of electric current changes with supply and demand. It is essential to maintain constant frequency of the National Power System. The Frequency of Indian electricity is 50 Hz. All the domestic goods run on this frequency. Change in frequency damages the goods. The Indian Electricity Rules, 1956 allows change between 48.5 Hz and 51.5 Hz, that is +/- 3%. Frequency decreases with increase in demand and vice versa. As more and more electricity are added on to the grid, it is essential to check if the frequency is maintained. If not, additional infrastructures have to be installed.

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