Renewable power has been steadily posing a David-like (of David and Goliath) challenge to polluting coal-fired projects ever since PM Narendra Modi declared the building of 175-gigawatt green capacity by 2022 as the centrepiece of India’s climate pledge. In 2015, the government had come up with a plan to ‘bundle’ solar energy with the then cheaper coal generation to push sales of renewable power through a market-driven approach. The ‘bundling’ mechanism soon became obsolete as renewable energy cost started falling dramatically. The cost of electricity using solar photovoltaic fell to $38 per megawatt hour—14% lower than cost of coal-fired power in 2019—according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
