The first India Energy Outlook report was released in 2015 by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Six years later, the organization has released the India-specific energy outlook report in February 2021.
India Energy Outlook is a country-specific version of IEA’s World Energy Outlook. To highlight, the report mentioned that India will overtake European Union as the world’s third-largest energy consumer by 2030.
In a nutshell, the report mentioned two positive developments concerning India’s energy system:
- Household electrification – India’s achievement in bringing electricity to millions of its citizens.
- India has grown in the renewable energy sector specifically, solar.
The IAS Exam candidates should know about a few Indian government initiatives that could be the reason that these achievements were reflected globally:
- SAUBHAGYA Scheme
- Solar Charkha Mission
- International Solar Alliance
- National Solar Mission
- Production-Linked Subsidy Scheme for solar PV modules
Know key findings of India Energy Outlook 2021 in this article.
A few takeaway points from IEA’s India Energy Outlook 2021:
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Key Findings of India Energy Outlook 2021
- Apart from the achievements mentioned above, the report mentioned the challenges met by India on the way to affordable, clean, and reliable energy, amid the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Lack of reliable electricity supply for many consumers
- Continued reliance on solid biomass, mainly firewood, as a cooking fuel for some 660 million people
- Financially ailing electricity distribution companies, and
- Air quality
- India has a huge scope for further growth in energy demand and infrastructure:
- India’s energy consumption is the third-largest in the world.
- As per the report, 80 percent of India’s energy demands are met by coal, oil, and solid biomass
- The primary consumption of energy in India to double as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to expand to 8.6 trillion US by 2040.
- The global energy demand growth is the largest for India between 2019-2040 as it accounts for nearly one-quarter of it.
- It has the second-largest growth in renewable energy. China stands at the top.
- India is going to overtake the EU in terms of its energy system by 2030.
- By 2040, India will lead the oil demand growth in the world given its five-fold increase in its per capita car ownerships.
- The demand for natural gas is going to triple by 2040 making it the fastest-growing market for natural gas.
- The natural gas requirement is projected to more than triple to 201 billion cubic meters and coal demand is seen rising to 772 million tonnes in 2040 from the current 590.
- The report also mentioned India’s future dependence on fossil fuel imports to meet its energy needs. It mentioned that India’s production of domestic oil and gas is stagnating.
- Its net dependence on oil imports will increase from 75 percent to 90 percent by 2040 as domestic consumption rises much more than production.
- From 2010 to 2019, the dependence on natural gas imports has increased from 20 percent to 50 percent. The number is expected to rise to 60 percent by 2040.
- The combined import bill for fossil fuels is to triple by 2040.
Get the list of important international organizations reports compiled in the linked article.
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