By adopting innovative ways to accelerate the uptake of DER and decarbonisation, India is becoming a renewable power-house.
With a mandate to have 50% of India’s energy sourced from renewables by 2030, the country that has historically been powered by coal, oil and solid biomass, has not set itself an easy target.
But with federal and state governments, utilities and energy players all embracing the target, it’s already on track to surpass that target.
Powerledger’s Vinod Tiwari says one of the reasons the transition is tracking so well is thanks to India’s innovative approaches to increase small-scale DER, like rooftop solar.
“A couple of years back, they could see that while the utilities were doing a good job of transitioning to large-scale renewables, smaller DER was lagging. When you are one of the world’s most populous nations, that’s a big opportunity.
“They’ve taken on the challenge by adopting innovative tactics to ways to drive DER take-up and distribution, and the result has been an impressively fast transition, which has empowered customers as well.”
Turning consumers to agents for renewables
Agriculture is one of India’s biggest industries, with around 20 million water pumps across India, according to Science News.
By offering subsidies and incentives, around 250,000 pumps across a number of states are now solar powered, with farmers able to sell excess power back.
“Every water pump out there is DER opportunity, and the take-up of this program has been really strong, with a number of years still to run,” says Tiwari.
“It’s been successful because they’ve ensured the outcome is good for the customer, as farmers get to make a little extra money with no disruption to business. And, in return, one of their largest economic sectors is using more renewables, accelerating decarbonisation. Everyone wins.”
Using Peer-to-peer to drive DER
India is also empowers customers through the introduction of peer-to-peer trading (P2P) solutions across several states.
P2P encourages DER take-up, typically small-scale solar, by financially incentivising the DER owner to generate renewables and sell or trade any excess solar into the local market.
“It creates buy in for renewables from customers, and enables a bottom-up up as well as top-down approach to energy transformation,” says Vinod.
The first trial, using Powerledger’s blockchain technology,was held in India’s most heavily populated state Uttar Pradesh in 2018.
The Uttar Pradesh pilot involved [ADD BRIEF DETAILS]. Following review from the State regulator, it was decreed that P2P trading to be implemented throughout the state.
“This is now one of the largest take-ups of P2P energy trading in the world, with consumers becoming active participants in the renewable energy market, and benefiting from it financially as well,” says Tiwari.
Other P2P trials have also been successful, including one in Delhi with Tata Power and a large trial of 1000 consumers and 70MW of energy in Calcutta, with further P2P roll-out on the cards.
Regulatory change
With a Federal and State regulatory bodies in India’s energy landscape, Vinod says the country has been careful not to let red-tape get in the way of DER take-up.
The Federal body provides broad guidelines through the India Energy Act, and it then falls to the 26 States to deliver energy, within the national parameters.
“There’s a fair bit of complexity, and decentralisation as well, within the Indian system,” says Tiwari. “However we’ve found that by working closely with regulators, and providing detailed reports of the pilots like P2P, and ensuring the enabling technology is well understood, then the regulatory system has been quick to move to enable energy transition.”
Where to next?
Although already on track to surpass its targets, India is looking to what other solutions it can implement in its push to decarbonise.
In the works is an EV program, turning its well-recognised fleets of two and three-wheelers, and trucks and buses, electric. And, enabled by P2P, trade renewable certificates are also on the agenda, particularly for businesses who trade excess renewables on the secondary market.
“Using blockchain, the P2P trading process creates a verifiable audit trail,” says Tiwari. “That opens up green certification and tariff opportunities for businesses, and further encourages the uptake of renewables and decarbonisation.
“The speed at which India is transitioning is inspiring. There are lessons for everyone in how technology can be used to support energy transformation, and how to encourage your biggest asset – your customers – into the market, and create a grassroots renewable transformation that’s good for everyone.”
