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electricity from the
country’s unreliable
power grid. The grid
failed spectacularly in
2012, plunging more
than 600 million people
into total blackout. In
the country’s high-tech
capital of Bangalore, for
example, residents have
recently had to endure
hours of power outages
each day after repairs
and a bad monsoon
season prevented the
state’s hydroelectric and
percent, according to
2 0 11 c e n s u s d a t a .
Families still light their
homes with kerosene
lamps and cook on clay
stoves with cow-dung
patties or kindling.
The Indian government
h a s l a u n c h e d a n
ambitious project to
supply 24-hour power to
its towns and villages by
2022 - with plans for
miles of new feeder
lines, infrastructure
gigawatts of solargenerating
capacity by
2022, plus 75 gigawatts
of other renewable
energy, predominantly
wind. The government
wants to expand its
h y d r o e l e c t r i c a n d
nuclear power capacity
as well. The ambitious
goal - which some see as
unrealistic - would
essentially require the
country to double its
i n s t a l l e d s o l a r -
generating capacity
plentiful coal will make
up the lion’s share of the
country’s energy budget
well beyond 2030. At
the same time, the
Indian government says
it wants to develop its
economy using green
technology, setting up
100 smart cities and
touting its work with
energy efficiency in
industrial buildings and
making LED light bulbs
affordable. In recent
months, the Indian
government
h a s
a n n o u n c e d
p l a n s t o
modernise its
national grid
a n d i s
preparing to
address the
financial
woes of the
country’s
state-owned
u t i l i t y
companies.
wind power plants from
g e n e r a t i n g e n o u g h
e l e c t r i c i t y. E n e rg y
access is worse in rural
areas. Bihar, one of
India’s poorest states,
has a population of 103
million, nearly a third
the size of the United
States. Fewer have
electricity as the primary
source of lighting there
than in any other place
in India, just over 16
upgrades and solar
micro grids for the
remotest areas. Led by
M o d i , a n e a r l y
proponent of solar
technology, India is in
the midst of a huge drive
to expand its solar and
wind capacity, with
plans for dozens of
mega-parks that the
government hopes will
move the country closer
to its goal of 100
every 18 months from its
current capacity of four
gigawatts.
India also wants to
double its coal
production in the next
five years, to more than
1 billion tons annually,
with plans to open 60
more coal mines. India
has the world’s fifthlargest
coal reserves, and
officials say cheap,
India’s
e n e r g y
m i n i s t e r ,
P i y u s h
Goyal, has
b e e n
appealing to wealthier
n a t i o n s t o p r o v i d e
capital to invest in
r e n e w a b l e e n e r g y
projects to help the
c o u n t r y r e a c h a n d
exceed the targets agreed
in Paris in November
2015. Japan’s Softbank
has committed to invest
$20bn (£16.2bn) in the
Indian solar energy
sector, in conjunction