The country has already made significant progress with installed renewable energy (RE) capacity reaching 114 GW as of 30 June 2022. This includes 41 GW of wind energy and 58 GW of solar energy. However, to get to 500 GW, India still has a long way to go. It needs to install more than 300 GW of RE capacity in the next 8 years. For this, a concerted effort from power sub-sectors (generation, transmission, and distribution) and a detailed analysis of the opportunities and challenges of each of them is required.
In this article, we touch upon transmission and distribution.
To harness the RE potential, efficient transmission corridors must be built across the country. To balance the grid with more RE, advanced technologies should also be explored to deal with the instability caused by non-synchronous generation from RE. OSOWOG is a viable alternative for utilising solar energy globally, but has unique challenges.
The distribution sector can be the critical link for integrating RE into the grid. However, the challenges related to implementation of various reforms and increasing accountability and responsibility at the localised level of the sector should be handled carefully.
While RE integration is an opportunity at the global level, we have to come out with more customised solutions suited to the local context and environment.
Article published by Energy Manager Magazine (April-June 2022 edition).
