No attribution requiredPower & renewables investments to gain momentum in India
Power and renewables is anticipated to enjoy significant investments within the next 5-7 years
March 8, 2019Infrastructure
GRI Hub interviewed Amit Jain, Senior Energy Specialist from The World Bank, at the India Infra GRI 2019 (29-30 January, Mumbai) and he gave his thoughts on the infrastructure market as a whole and the potential of the power & renewable sector in India.
What are the biggest challenges in the Indian power sector in the near future?
A per capita consumption of electricity in India is only around 1000 kilowatt hours, which is substantially lower if you compare it to China (about 4000 kilowatt hours), and even lower than the world average (about 3000 kilowatt hours), not to mention Europe and the US (around 15000 kilowatt hours). So we are really a deficient country in per capita consumption of electricity. With the massive Indian middle class, in the next ten years, the power consumption is going to become huge – even at 2000 kilowatt hours – and the amount of investments that would go into the power sector would be of $7bn. What we are witnessing right now in the renewables – wether its solar or rain – is just the tip of the iceberg. Even with the 175 gigawatt target , we are witnessing a revolution in the solar sector which will be translated into a revolution in storage in the next two years. We will witness significant investment into power and infrastructure in the next five to seven years.
About Amit Jain
Amit is a solar engineer with PhD in solar energy and Fulbright Scholar at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado. He is currently working as renewable energy specialist with the World Bank. His previous assignments include the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)-UAE, Asian Development Bank (ADB)-Philippines and the Clinton Foundation-USA. He has worked on large-scale solar park loans, small-scale energy access projects like equity investments in mini grid companies and in interdisciplinary fields like waste to energy and climate change projects in Southeast Asia. Amit has authored two books on climate change policy and waste to energy, and has international peer reviewed journal publications.
View list of upcoming GRI events within Infrastructure on the GRI Club website.
What are the biggest challenges in the Indian power sector in the near future?
A per capita consumption of electricity in India is only around 1000 kilowatt hours, which is substantially lower if you compare it to China (about 4000 kilowatt hours), and even lower than the world average (about 3000 kilowatt hours), not to mention Europe and the US (around 15000 kilowatt hours). So we are really a deficient country in per capita consumption of electricity. With the massive Indian middle class, in the next ten years, the power consumption is going to become huge – even at 2000 kilowatt hours – and the amount of investments that would go into the power sector would be of $7bn. What we are witnessing right now in the renewables – wether its solar or rain – is just the tip of the iceberg. Even with the 175 gigawatt target , we are witnessing a revolution in the solar sector which will be translated into a revolution in storage in the next two years. We will witness significant investment into power and infrastructure in the next five to seven years.
About Amit Jain
Amit is a solar engineer with PhD in solar energy and Fulbright Scholar at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado. He is currently working as renewable energy specialist with the World Bank. His previous assignments include the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)-UAE, Asian Development Bank (ADB)-Philippines and the Clinton Foundation-USA. He has worked on large-scale solar park loans, small-scale energy access projects like equity investments in mini grid companies and in interdisciplinary fields like waste to energy and climate change projects in Southeast Asia. Amit has authored two books on climate change policy and waste to energy, and has international peer reviewed journal publications.
View list of upcoming GRI events within Infrastructure on the GRI Club website.