Indian power sector is diversified and dominated by fossil fuel technologies. The technologies that require huge scale of development for delivering low emission power for the future are CCS and Solar power. The renewable energy solutions like CCS and solar power are in beginning stage of penetration in the Indian power sector. Among them, the potential of solar energy is abundant in India and has huge scope for expansion to meet the energy demands. At the time when this paper is written, Indian government has unveiled a proposal to build a 4GW ultra mega solar power plant, first of its kind in the world. This marks the beginning of expansion and development of solar technology in India.
Presently, India is more focused on energy supply, cost and local pollution than the issues of GHG emissions. However, considering the prevalent use of coal in present and in foreseeable future, time is due for India to step into research and development of CCS technology and make way for cleaner energy policy, despite the prevalent obstacles. The main barriers for CCS penetration in the country are additional cost and energy consumption and safety issues like leakage of CO2. It is expected in next 10-15 years that India will upgrade its power plants with CCS technology or will withdraw a substantial part of its power generating capacity, due to old age and low efficiency of its power plants. On the other hand, the renewables methods like Wind, Hydro and Nuclear are already in steady growth. However, they still need rapid expansion in installation to cater power for the escalating electricity demand.
At present, only about 25% of the total hydro power potential is utilized for electricity. There is more space for expansion of hydro power in the country.
Coming to nuclear energy, India has exclusive plans to utilize its abundant thorium reserves for power production through extensive research in the field. By 2050, the nuclear power program of India aims to supply 25% of the demand through nuclear power.
For wind energy, two different studies have been performed to assess the potential in India. Both the figures suggest that the India’s potential is high. In addition, India also needs to enter the offshore wind power technology, as it has about 7500 Km of potential coastal line.
Life cycle analysis of three different scenarios of power generation is analyzed using the software GaBi 6.0. The results of the analysis suggest that the scenario LCOF 2050 employs more shares to renewable energy methods and saves about a tremendous 4 billion tons of CO2 equivalent of emissions compared to reference scenario in 2050. It is clear that Indian power sector has to find its total emission level in the range close to the emissions of LCOF 2050, for it to meet the global carbon mitigation obligations in future.
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