Is India Building Enough To Power Its Digital Transformation

INDIA TAKING GIANT STEPS IN PRODUCTION OF POWER THROUGH RENEWABLE SOURCES India has a total power generation capacity of ~1.5 million GWh (Gigawatt hours), which is all the sources of power generation combined, including fossil fuels, thermal, renewables, hydro and nuclear. Some other interesting facts on India are: • The country has been making positive strides in transitioning towards cleaner sources of power such as renewables (RES) like some other countries in the West in its quest for environment protection. • Because of increased incentives and government support, growth of renewables sources has been much higher than the growth of power generated through other sources. • Annualized RES growth during the 8-year period from FY2013-14 until FY2021-22 stood at 15% versus 5% growth of the total power generation during the same period.

India’s flagship scheme for promoting growth of the manufacturing sector i.e., the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, also incentivizes production of domestic high-efficiency solar PV module manufacturing and advanced chemistry cell batteries & equipment amongst the 14 sub-sectors within manufacturing that would be highly incentivized. The global think tank on renewables, REN21, in its report “Renewables 2021, Global Status Report” has acknowledged India amongst few nations where cost to build new windmill or solar PV plants has become cheaper than to operate existing coal-fired power plants. Given the boost to manufacturing and installation of renewable sources, India is counted amongst those nations having highest share of renewable power generation through clean sources such as wind & solar plants. For the data center industry, this is great news as the sector will be subject to greater scrutiny on sources of power and its impact on environment. Naturally, DC operators will prefer to allocate larger investments in locations where renewable power is sufficiently produced and available.

RENEWABLE SOURCES (WIND & SOLAR) AS A % OF TOTAL ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN THE COUNTRY

Wind & Solar share in total electricity Production

China

11.7%

Power Generation in GWhs

Canada

6.4%

180,000

40.0%

28.9%

Germany

160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000

35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0%

India

8.2%

Indonesia

5.9%

11.9%

Japan

25.2%

UK

5.0% 0.0%

12.8%

USA

0

-5.0%

2014-15 2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19 2019-20 2020-21

2021-22

Source: Enerdata, 2021 data

Renewable Sources (RES)

RES Y-o-Y%

Total Power Generation Y-o-Y%

RES % Share in Total

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