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Since 1885 India has come up with a well built system in the field of Power Generation , Transmission & Distribution. This is also evident with the fact that, India has been the world’s 3rd largest Electricity producer & consumer only laying behind China and the USA (Figure 1 ).While we take pride on being in the top three producer , it also makes us the 3rd largest contributor to CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuels across the globe ( Figure 2 ). Thankfully it is not something completely disregarded throughout the policies for developments in the power sector where India has set some overly optimistic goals for the next 5-10 years to address the Global issues and meet Internal power requirements.In this blog we will review India’s growth in the Power Sector since Inception in 1885 and It’s Global positioning as a Power Generation Country , it’s Installed Capacity , Generation by various resources & emissions from Fossil Fuels before we take up India’s Globally declared more ambitious plans :-Global Positioning of India in Power Sector India has recorded rapid growth in Power generation since 1985, expanding from 179 TW-hr in 1985 to 1561 TW-hr in 2019. Along with India, China and USA. The other major producers of power are Russia and Japan. Generation by various resources The coal-fired plants have predominately been the major source of Electricity Generation in India. However , there has been significant growth in Non- Conventional Renewable energy sources (RES) Including contributions from natural gas , Oil , and Hydro plants. We will keep our focus on Renewable Source of energy production Vs all other Conventional / Nuclear / Hydro / Captive. India’s generation of electricity via RES excluding Large Hydro has been only 8.20%. Later in the blog we will discuss on the improvements that can be targeted in this area ( Figure 3 ).India’s Installed Capacity India had grid-connected installed electricity generation capacity of about 368.79 GW from both Conventional & Non-conventional renewable technologies. No wonder the Coal fire plants have the maximum stake followed by Large Hydro , Renewable , Nuclear , Natural Gas and Others ( Figure 4 ).CO2 Emissions The global carbon Intensity of electricity generation had been approx. 900 gCO2/kWh in the 1990s and started to decline in 2000s reaching about 800 gCO2/kWh by 2011. The Carbon intensity of electricity generation is an important index in achieving climate change targets. The short term target of below 600 gCO2/kWh by 2020 is essential to achieve the 2⁰ C emission target. Let’s have a look at major contributors to global carbon intensity , aggregating emissions by country is just one way of assessing the problem and working out how to counter it. The positive outcome with above would be India’s renewable energy sector which is growing vigorously for the last decade , this has provided India a much needed confidence to set below targets which as per our understanding have already termed as over ambitious , before we conclude if it is Inconceivable or Achievable we will rather look at these goals and take a call on it :-Internal Goals :-1. According to Interim target set , India aims to have 175 GW from renewable energy i.e 100 GW of solar, 60 GW of wind, 10 GW of bio mass and 5 GW of small hydro2. The country is aiming for 57% of the total electricity capacity from renewable sources by 2027 in Central Electricity Authority’s strategy blueprint. According to 2027 blueprint, India aims to have 275 GW from renewable energy, 72 GW of hydroelectricity, 15 GW of nuclear energy and nearly 100 GW from “other zero emission” sources. Globally declared Goals : –1. As per National Electricity Plan ( NEP ) , there will be Coal-fired power capacity additions of 46 GW between 2022 and 2027. 2. India to have 450 GW renewable energy by 2030, declared by India at UN headquarters Climate Action Summit.3. In the Paris Agreement India has committed to an Intended Nationally Determined Contributions target of achieving 40% of its total electricity generation from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.4. To reduce the CO2 emissions intensity of GDP by 33%–35% & emissions by 50% by 2030 below 2005 levels;5. To create an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5–3 GtCO2e through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.With our analysis we find above would be insufficient or rather can be termed as Inconceivable considering the lack of regional coordination. India has set contradictory goals which sees achievement before time but may end up with a shortfall. It is a well known fact that India has a surplus power generation capacity but lacks adequate distribution infrastructure still Govt of India has not floored it’s major plans of connecting targeted capacity of 450 GW renewable with distribution system. This can not be achieved at one go and different stages needs to be defined to make it a realistic plan in-order to avoid the significant risk of assets stranding if Coal fired Plants will be retired at one go. There is also significant uncertainty over the future of coal power capacity in India. The Nation Electricity Plan foresees coal-fired power capacity additions of 46 GW between 2022 and 2027 (CEA, 2018). Taking into account both capacity additions and retirements, India’s coal power capacity will reach 238GW in 2027, a net increase of 46 GW from the installed capacity in 2017. This planned increase is not inline with the Paris Agreement. Notably the expansion plans for coal-based generation have been found to be inconsistent with lower demand projections as-well. So even if India is able to meet it’s globally declared target of 450 GW of Renewable by 2030 , it might fail to meet it’s desired NDC target of 40% non-fossil generation capacity. Failing to achieve above goals which is a base line to India’s Paris Agreement pledge to reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 33%–35% by 2030 below 2005 levels, may be met, but emissions will increase. If carbon dioxide emissions will get doubled. With all this India’s commitment to reduce its emissions intensity would be indeed encouraging, but it will not result in a decrease in GHG emissions below current levels. Thus, India’s pledge was likely to be deemed insufficient to contribute to reducing global emissions by 50 percent in 2030.Arguably Emissions growth in India was moderate in 2019, with CO2 emissions from the power sector declining slightly as electricity demand was broadly stable and strong renewables growth prompted coal-fired electricity generation to fall for the first time since 1973. Continued growth in fossil-fuel demand in other sectors of the Indian economy, notably transport, offset the decline in the power sector, if any. To create an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5–3 GtCO2e through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.Currently, India’s forest and tree cover is about 24 percent of its geographical area, according to India’s State of Forest Report 2017 and India has repeatedly highlighted that it wants to bring at least 33 percent of its total area under green cover. So this seems feasible but considering the growth in other sectors this needs to be dealt with lot more focus to keep things under declared commitments. What India needs to do ?India needs to adopt new policies to close coal-fired power plants and promote renewable and carbon-free power sources such as wind, solar and hydropower. Also India has to set a sync between proposed Renewable Generation capacity and grid network in order to ensure generation via a realistic plan. These are tasks in hand which needs to be planned by the Government. “Based on our meticulous analysis of the climate pledges, it is naive to expect current government efforts to substantially slow climate change. Failing to reduce emissions drastically and rapidly will result in an environmental and economic disaster from human-induced climate change. Considering the Industry exposure and various analysis although we have termed it overly optimistic goals but it would be great to see if India achieves it within committed schedule. I would love to take your thought on the topic ” Write to me “.