Revision summary
India’s energy use grows with industry, cooling, and electrification. Coal still supplies a large share of firm electricity. A round Union target is about 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030. PM-KUSUM, rooftop and park solar, wind, and green hydrogen are the renewable stack. Nuclear, hydro, grids, and storage make that stack usable after sunset. Efficiency programmes cut the demand that would need another plant.
Model answer
Introduction
India’s energy demand rises with industry, cooling, mobility, and a still-electrifying countryside. Coal remains the large firm source. The sustainable answer is not a slogan of zero coal tomorrow; it is a stack of renewables, grids, storage, nuclear, and efficiency so that extra demand is met with less carbon and less import risk.
Body
Demand and the present mix
- Power, transport fuel, and industrial heat all grow; air-conditioning and digital loads add a new peak.
- Coal-fired plants still carry a large share of electricity, so energy security and air quality pull in opposite directions until storage and grids catch up.
Renewable and sustainable steps
- Utility solar and wind parks, plus rooftop solar, are the volume play; a well-known round Union target is about 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity by 2030.
- PM-KUSUM aims at solar pumps and decentralised solar so that farm demand does not only mean more diesel or more coal night-time.
- Green Energy Corridor, interstate transmission, and battery or pumped storage try to turn intermittent sun and wind into usable evening power.
- The National Green Hydrogen Mission targets fertiliser, refining, and hard-to-abate industry rather than household slogans.
- Nuclear (existing PHWRs and new projects) and large hydro remain low-carbon firm power, which renewables still need as backup.
- Efficiency is a resource: UJALA LEDs, PAT for industry, building codes, and electric mobility cut demand that would otherwise need another plant.
Completing steps that are not only “renewable”
- Diversified oil and gas import, strategic petroleum reserves, and domestic exploration reduce shock when the Gulf or the rouble moves.
- Just-transition language for coal districts matters, or the politics of renewables will stall.
Meeting demand sustainably is therefore add clean capacity, store it, use less, and retire coal on a live grid, not on a pamphlet.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD D[Rising energy demand] --> C[Coal firm power] D --> R[Solar wind PM-KUSUM] D --> H[Green hydrogen nuclear] D --> E[Efficiency UJALA PAT] R --> G[Grid storage] G --> M[Meet demand lower carbon]
Conclusion
Rising demand is being met by expanding the grid and, increasingly, by solar, wind, green hydrogen, nuclear, and efficiency. The 500 GW non-fossil round target and PM-KUSUM are the public renewable face. Coal still firms the system until storage and transmission make renewables dispatchable at national scale.
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