Elections 2024: Renewables Take Center Stage In Political Parties’ Manifestos

The leading Indian political parties have now come out with their party manifestos for the upcoming Parliament (Lok Sabha) elections. Some of them have now also promised their consumers access to increased renewable power too. This comes months after the BJP-led Union government announced PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana which has already been rolled out in the country. The scheme aimed at installing rooftop solar onto the households of 1 crore households. All this comes even as the 2019 manifesto’s had barely any mention of renewable energy. Climate change however is still relegated as a non-issue for the same parties, something that might come back as a deep regret to voters in times to come.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)in its manifesto shared the successes from the past few years. It boasted improving infrastructure and increasing non-fossil fuel energy capacity by 2.5 times to 180 GW. The document shared plans to ensure energy independence by 2047 and reduce petroleum imports. They plan to do so through a mix of electric mobility, a network of charging stations, renewable energy production, and improving energy efficiency. The parties promise to deliver to support a buildout of a gas network to deliver gas to more homes has also been seen as an effort to substitute a polluting fuel (coal, wood) with a cleaner fuel.

The election document illustrated the impact of government policies such as PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana in “enabling homes across Bharat to run devices like Electric Stoves, Fan, ACs, TV among others, and also enable EV charging through solar energy.”

The manifesto shared plans, “The implemented policies PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana will enable homes across Bharat to run devices like Electric Stoves, Fan, AC, and TVs among others, and also enable EV charging through solar energy. We will expand the nuclear energy component of Bharat’s energy mix through a focus on developing small modular reactors as well as increased investment in nuclear energy production.”

“Accelerating Bharat’s Renewable Energy Transition we will harness Bharat’s renewable energy potential, targeting 500 GW of renewable energy through the establishment of mega solar parks, wind parks, and the Green Energy Corridor project among others,” said the BJP manifesto.

For developing battery energy storage system infrastructure BJP mentioned in its plans, “We will incentivise private sector investment in large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) infrastructure for fostering renewable energy integration, grid stability and resilience, ensuring a sustainable and reliable energy future for all.”

For grid stability the party claimed to, “Establishing Smart Grid We will establish nationwide smart grids integrated with advanced technology, including smart meters and control centers, for efficient and intelligent energy management.”

The party shared the goal of making the nation a global manufacturing hub in renewable energy. “We will set up a centre of excellence for clean energy technologies and position the country as a global manufacturing hub’ for Wind, Solar, and Green Hydrogen and scale up Bio-Energy Manufacturing facilities from all sorts of waste.”

The current government and the contesting party BJP claim to have increased the non-fossil fuel capacity, the document mentioned, “Due to our focus on the environment, we have reached 44% of our electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuel sources. We will continue on this path and increase the share of non-fossil fuel sources in line with Panchamrit. We will work towards achieving net zero emissions by 2070.”

On the contrary, the leading opposition party, Congress claims, ” We will launch a major programme to install solar panels connected to tube wells to generate energy. As people move up the economic ladder, their needs are for better infrastructure and better goods and services. Besides, we must get the Indian economy and the Indian work force ‘future-ready’. The challenges of the future include the changes in the global economy, advanced technology such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics and machine learning, and climate change. The future of our energy is Green Energy. We will mobilize the massive capital required for our green energy transition.”

The document said, “We will promote green energy. We will implement renewable energy schemes that will make the panchayats or municipality self-sufficient in electricity as far as possible. We will promote solar-powered engines for tapping groundwater for agriculture. We will launch a Green New Deal Investment Programme focused on renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure and the creation of green jobs.”

Thus, even as the Congress has stressed the push for Green energy in rural areas, broadly, on this issue, we see alignment between both the parties, which will no doubt delight investors.