What will help India emerge as price setter in global energy markets
The International Energy estimates that India’s energy demand outpaced growth in global demand in 2018 (2.3%); the country’s primary energy demand rose by 4%. While a healthy growth rate is essential, it important that it is sustainable—today’s growth should not be at the cost of tomorrow’s potential. Major economies have been looking at cleaner sources of energy such as natural gas. But growth in India had been primarily led by coal-based power generation and fossil fuel-based mobility solutions. As per Energy Statistics 2018 published by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, coal accounts for about 70% of total power generation, and natural gas accounts for 9%.
To balance growth in energy demand with sustainability, we need to reduce the environmental cost of energy use. India must enhance the share of natural gas in the energy basket to 15% in the next decade compared with the current 6% (‘Vision 2030-Natural Gas Infrastructure in India’, PNGRB).
