The net-zero sustainability journey - Opportunities

The net-zero sustainability journey - Opportunities

India announced new climate targets at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow under its ‘Panchamrit strategy’. It has taken a bold leap towards cementing its commitment to clean energy and letting the world know its future approach towards fighting climate change. The strategy also includes a target year for reaching Net Zero.

India made five big-ticket announcements at the climate change meeting in Glasgow:

a)      Increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500GW by 2030.

b)      India will meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.

c)       India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now onwards till 2030.

d)      By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45%.

e)      By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero.

These announcements assume significance in many ways because this is the very first time that India has taken the climate target in absolute emissions terms. Earlier there used to be talks of just altering the emission intensities. This also becomes important because despite India not being a historical emitter of greenhouse gases, these targets now present India as a responsible nation.

The scale of transformation of India has been stellar. Its economic growth has consistently been among the highest in the world over the past two decades. Right from increasing the literacy level to providing a skilled workforce. There has been tremendous growth in roads and connectivity, industrialisation, and infrastructure development. Coal and oil have remained the bedrock of India’s development and modernisation. This includes adding new electricity connections for over 50 million people every year.

This rapid growth in fossil energy consumption infers a large amount of annual CO2 levels, making it the third largest emitter in the world. However, India’s per person CO2 emissions place it among the lowest in the list, as being the most populous nation. As per a report published by IEA, Paris, an Indian household on average consumes a tenth of the amount of electricity consumed by an American household.

Now, with these formidable targets in place, the road that will lead to its successful implementation is also one important factor. The government of India has already showcased its plans to get the task done but this will not be enough though.

The way forward:

(a)    Investment in the RE sector: According to a report published by ADL, titled ‘Powering India’s Energy Vision 2030’, India would need $ 300 Billion to meet the target of 500 GW of RE. In addition to this, focus should be directed upon greater investments in R&D by all the stakeholders. IPR needs to be held by Indian entities as the dominant player China can’t be relied upon.

(b)    Nuclear Energy: India should not ignore the potential of Nuclear Energy that be harnessed to reach the ambitious target of 500GW. Nuclear energy deserves a similar push being given to solar and wind.

(c)     Reducing emissions: This can be considered the most critical factor for attaining a Net-Zero emission target. India will have to take considerate steps to cut down emissions coming from the transport sector, and energy-intensive industrial sector especially cement, metallic and other chemical industries.

(d)    Creating Carbon Sink: India’s Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) will help in reducing cooling requirements. Under this scheme, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has taken many steps to roll out new benchmarks for the energy star rating of cooling appliances. A new fund has been created under Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) for developing forest areas to act as carbon sinks.

(e)    Hydrogen Energy: The union government has approved over ₹ 19 thousand crores for National Green Hydrogen Mission that aims to make India a ‘global hub’ for using, producing and exporting green hydrogen. This policy has an objective of developing a production capacity of at least 5MMT (Million Metric Tonne) per year alongside adding a renewable energy capacity of about 125 GW in India by 2030.

Partners in this Journey:

This isn’t an overnight task but one which will require a deliberately planned, sustainable and collaborated action from all the stakeholders. Achieving Net-Zero is all about lowering the ever-increasing demand for energy by correctly utilising the already produced energy. This is where the energy management role slides into the picture. With the use of technologies such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Internet of Things (IoT) and communication systems a smart hybrid electric grid can be achieved where renewable energy generation devices like Solar Photovoltaic (PV) can be integrated.

Power management (PMS) is mainly about the enhancement of electrical availability and reliability. Energy management (EMS) is more related to cost saving aspect and ties into existing energy-related streams to analyse the power distribution systems with a cost-saving and energy-efficiency perspective. Overlapping PMS and EMS leads to power quality and energy efficiency. Power factor correction, voltage stabilisation and harmonic filtering are some of the methods used for this purpose. IoT is being used to automate these processes. SmartComm is one such reliable and trusted platform offered by L&T for these PMS and EMS monitoring tasks.

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” ― Karen Lamb. It’s just imperative to not wait any further to take the first step towards a better future when we all know the ‘to-do’ list.      

 #Net-Zero            #Automation       #IOT           #Industry4.0            #PMS             #EMS             #SCADA