UC Santa Barbara researchers have just released a study showing why India should invest more in renewable energy. The study looked at the electricity and carbon reduction costs associated with India's grid meeting its ambitious renewable energy target by 2030, finding that a wind-majority or wind-solar balance target has the most cost-effective potential for Indian electricity.

Researcher Ranjit Deshmukh and co-authors Duncan Callaway and Amol Phadke revealed that building a large number of wind and solar power plants (600 GW) will reduce the frequency of operation of fossil fuel power plants.

This would keep India's electricity emissions in 2030 at 2018 levels, at a cost comparable to a fossil-fuel-dominated grid, while nearly doubling electricity supply. As costs come down, battery storage can cost-effectively avoid the need for new fossil fuel power plants. The findings stem from an exhaustive analysis of India's electricity usage, weather conditions and energy infrastructure.

The Indian government has set a target of 450 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. By comparison, India's current total generating capacity is about 380 GW, of which 90 GW is renewable, excluding large hydropower plants.

According to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), in order to reach net zero electricity generation by 2050, India needs to generate at least 83% of its electricity from (non-hydro) renewable energy sources.

However, for developing countries like India, reducing carbon emissions is only a problem.

Renewable energy is cheaper than conventional energy

"Most of these countries have historically low carbon emissions compared to more industrialized countries," said Deshmuk, assistant professor of environmental studies program and director of the Clean Energy Conversion Laboratory. "So, we The approach is that if renewable energy makes economic sense, then these countries should deploy more renewable energy.”

Deshmukh explained that since the cost of wind and solar energy and battery storage is falling rapidly, it is actually cost-effective to install these technologies to replace traditional fossil fuel technologies such as coal and natural gas, regardless of environmental factors.

Renewable energy has become cheaper than conventional energy simply by avoiding the cost of fuel that would otherwise need to be extracted, or by avoiding the import of natural gas to generate the same electricity.

Based on simulations of hundreds of scenarios, Deshmukh and his colleagues argue that India could increase its target of renewable energy generation capacity to 600 gigawatts by 2030 and only marginally increase costs to consumers -- or It actually reduces costs in many cases.

Batteries are emerging as a cost-effective tool to bridge the gap between energy supply and demand. They can store clean energy during times of peak demand, avoiding the need to use conventional power plants, especially expensive ones that run infrequently.

Without India's ability to store and transfer energy, renewables may not be able to prevent the need to build new coal and gas-fired power plants if India hopes to meet peak demand. Fortunately, prices have become so cheap that installing batteries to store energy when demand is low will soon be less expensive than adding power when demand is high. This will shift the economic factor more towards renewable energy. Editor / Xu Shengpeng