AsiaElec: India going big on renewables, but clinging to coal raises questions

India has made yet another statement of intent in its quest to reach net zero by 2070, a goal first announced in November 2021, at COP26.

In news that made headlines across the subcontinent earlier in the week, the central government in New Delhi has announced the issuance of even more tenders to help boost domestic renewables infrastructure.

Totalling 250 GW of green capacity, to be up and running by March, 2028, the issue is, on the surface at least, a public attempt by a government desperate to reduce current CO2 output by 45% from rates seen in 2005 before the end of the decade.

Energy agencies in the government of long-serving Prime Minister Narendra Modi were stung badly at the end of 2022, when they accepted that a long-promised goal of 175 GW of renewable energy in place by the end of the year would not be realised.

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