Perspectives of Renewable Energy Sources in the Future Indian Competitive Electricity Markets

Abstract

Energy is considered to be a key factor in the generation of wealth, social development and improved quality of life in all developed and developing countries in the world. Renewable energy development is of great importance from the point of view of long term energy supply security, decentralization of energy supply particularly for the benefit of the rural population, environmental benefits and sustainability in competitive power market also. India is on the path of rapid economic growth along with speedy overall development; simultaneously it has to face the global threat of climate change. India has a vast supply of renewable energy resources, and it has one of the largest programs in the world for deploying renewable energy based products and systems. These technologies have long been recognized as an important part of the solution to address energy security concerns and ensure economic growth in an environment friendly manner. India had cross 25 GW milestone installed grid connected renewable energy capacity. For renewable development in India, the renewable energy program has been in existence for more than three decades, but a market for renewable energy technologies still need to be exists. The country is aiming to achieve up to 20% of additional installed capacity to be set up till 2020 to come from RES. In this paper, efforts have been made to summarize the availability, current status, environmental effects, promotion policies and future potential & strategies of renewable energy options in Indian competitive electricity markets.

Keywords: Competitive power market, renewable energy sources, renewable policy