India is one of the hungriest countries in terms of energy consumption. Being the fast-growing economy, massive developmental initiatives such as 24*7 power supply and Ujjwala yojna to provide LPG connections to the poor household are some of the reasons for the manifold increase in energy consumption in the country. Oil is the largest import of India and it dents government coffers by a large amount every year. In the past 4 years, the Modi government has made monumental efforts to increase the generation and consumption of renewable energy which could lead to a reduction in the import bill. Renewable energy is environmentally more viable and is a need of the hour at a time when global warming is fast becoming the biggest threat to humanity. The government’s efforts are producing results, and an analysis by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says that the renewable energy sector created 47,000 new jobs in the country in 2017, accounting for over 20 percent of 5 lakh new green jobs created globally. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organization to promote adoption and sustainable use of renewable energy. It was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
The India Spend report which was prepared on the basis of analysis by IRENA, noted that in 2017 around 4.32 lakh people were employed in the renewable energy sector in Indi. Adnan Z Amin, director-general of IRENA, said “Renewable energy has become a pillar of low-carbon economic growth for governments all over the world, a fact reflected by the growing number of jobs created in the sector. The increase in number of jobs has been due to gradually switching to clean energy in sync with their commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement 2015.” The Paris Agreement is an agreement dealing with greenhouse gas emissions through mitigation, adaptation, and finance starting in the year 2020. It was negotiated by representatives of 196 state parties in Paris, and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015.
According to the IRENA report, the number of jobs in India’s green energy sector rose by 12 percent to 4.32 lakh people in 2017 from 3.85 lakh people in 2016. The country received 1.77 billion dollars in FDI for the renewable energy sector from April 2014 to September 2016. The growth in the renewable energy sector has been exponential under the Modi government, and Power Minister R K Singh said that he has revised the target of renewable energy capacity addition from 175GW to 227GW by 2022. Globally, India stands 4th in wind power, 5th in renewable power and 6th in solar power installed capacity. Solar energy capacity has increased by 8 times from 2.63 GW in 2014 to 22 GW. Wind energy capacity increased by 1.6 times from 21 GW in 2014 to 34 GW.
Energy use in India has almost doubled since 2000, although per capita consumption is only around a third of the global average. Three-quarters of its energy demand is met by fossil fuels, a share that has been rising as households move away from the use of solid biomass (mainly fuelwood) to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking. A growth in energy consumption is very important as it is one of the indicators of economic development. If the growing energy demand is met through fossil fuels, then it would be very harmful to the environment as well as to human health. Therefore, it is very important that the government makes investments in the field of renewable energy and the growing jobs indicate that there is a churn in this sector.