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Powering the future: an integrated framework for clean renewable energy transition.

1. Introduction

2. background, 2.1. clean renewable energy community transition dynamics, 2.2. role of dimensions, indicators, and metrics in energy transition, 3. methodology, 3.1. literature review, 3.2. conceptual framework, 3.2.1. efficient built environment, 3.2.2. reliable energy system, 3.2.3. accessible energy system, 4. review of renewable energy transition metrics, 4.1. environmental dimension metrics, 4.2. technical dimension metrics, 4.3. social dimension metrics, 4.4. economic dimension metrics, 4.5. political and institutional dimension metrics, 5. discussion, 5.1. challenges associated with metrics identification, 5.2. evaluating metrics for clean renewable energy communities transition.

• High and Easy are assigned a value of 3, reflecting optimal conditions or the highest degree of relevance or ease of application.
• Medium or Moderate levels are given a value of 2, indicating an intermediate state.
• Hard and Data Availability Varies are scored as 1, denoting challenging conditions or inconsistent data availability.

5.3. Classification of Metrics Based on Clean Renewable Energy Communities Transition Objectives

6. future research and limitations, 7. conclusions, supplementary materials, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Wehbi, H. Powering the Future: An Integrated Framework for Clean Renewable Energy Transition. Sustainability 2024 , 16 , 5594. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135594

Wehbi H. Powering the Future: An Integrated Framework for Clean Renewable Energy Transition. Sustainability . 2024; 16(13):5594. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135594

Wehbi, Hanan. 2024. "Powering the Future: An Integrated Framework for Clean Renewable Energy Transition" Sustainability 16, no. 13: 5594. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135594

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

A systematic bibliometric review of clean energy transition: Implications for low-carbon development

Roles Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of Statistics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China

Roles Data curation, Software

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Centre for Corporate Sustainability and Environmental Finance, Department of Applied Finance, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Roles Methodology, Validation

Affiliation School of Humanities and Foreign Languages, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, China

Roles Software, Visualization

• Wei Zhang, 
• Binshuai Li, 
• Rui Xue, 
• Chengcheng Wang, 

• Published: December 3, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091
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More voices are calling for a quicker transition towards clean energy. The exploration and exploitation of clean energy such as wind energy and solar energy are effective means to optimise energy structure and improve energy efficiency. To provide in-depth understanding of clean energy transition, this paper utilises a combination of multiple bibliometric mapping techniques, including HistCite, CiteSpace and R Bibliometrix, to conduct a systematic review on 2,191 clean energy related articles obtained from Web of Science (WoS). We identify five current main research streams in the clean energy field, including Energy Transition, Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy, Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks, Clean Energy and Economics, and Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy. Clearly, the effectiveness of policy-driven and market-driven energy transition is an important ongoing debate. Emerging research topics are also discussed and classified into six areas: Clean Energy Conversion Technology and Biomass Energy Utilisation, Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology, Policy-Making in Clean Energy Transition, Impact of Clean Energy Use and Economic Development on Carbon Emissions, Household Use of Clean Energy, and Clean Energy Stock Markets. Accordingly, more and more research attention has been paid to how to improve energy efficiency through advanced clean energy technology, and how to make targeted policies for clean energy transition and energy market development. This article moves beyond the traditional literature review methods and delineates a systematic research agenda for clean energy research, providing research directions for achieving low-carbon development through the clean energy transition.

Citation: Zhang W, Li B, Xue R, Wang C, Cao W (2021) A systematic bibliometric review of clean energy transition: Implications for low-carbon development. PLoS ONE 16(12): e0261091. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091

Editor: Ghaffar Ali, Shenzhen University, CHINA

Received: July 29, 2021; Accepted: November 23, 2021; Published: December 3, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: The data underlying the results presented in the study are available from: Zhang, Wei; Li, Binshuai; Xue, Rui; Wang, Chengcheng; Cao, Wei (2021), “Clean Energy Related Literature Data”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/h9n69648d9.1 .

Funding: This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 20BTJ030), the Social Science Planning Foundation of Shandong Province (16CTJJ01) and Youth Innovation Program of Shandong Province (2019REW021). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1 Introduction

Currently, many countries worldwide have proposed and implemented their green recovery plans [ 1 – 3 ]. Public voices for transitioning to clean energy are increasingly high, shifting investors’ attention from traditional energy markets to clean energy markets. Therefore, it is important and urgent to systematically understand how to transition to a “clean” world.

Considering this context, the key research question of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current progress of the clean energy transition and illustrate a research agenda for emerging areas that await more academic and practical attention. To address the research question, this study provides a systematic literature review of 2,191 articles on clean energy related areas obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database over the period from 1950 to 2020. Using a combination of multiple bibliometric mapping techniques, we identify the main streams of current research and propose important topics for future research, providing comprehensive insights for the developments in clean energy transitions and a theoretical basis for more effective ways to achieve carbon neutrality.

Current main streams of clean energy research identified by bibliometric analysis include Energy Transition, Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy, Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks, Clean Energy and Economics, and Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy.

Specifically, the Energy Transition research stream focuses on the barriers to energy transition at the national and household level [ 4 ]. Given the governments’ dominant role in promoting the clean energy transition [ 5 ], the Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy stream concentrates on assessing governments’ related policies and their impacts on carbon emissions. The Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks stream centres around the influencing factors on clean energy stock prices; existing studies show that oil prices, technology stock prices, and interest rates are prominent factors affecting clean energy stock prices [ 6 ]. The Clean Energy and Economics stream tends to apply econometric models to test the causal relationship between clean energy consumption and socio-economic variables such as economic growth [ 7 ] and foreign direct investment (FDI) [ 8 ]. As the soaring demand for clean energy attracts a significant amount of venture capital inflows, especially the private ones [ 9 ], the identification and minimisation of investment risk for investors remains the major topic for current research in Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy.

We further employ the cluster analysis of articles published in recent five years (2015–2020) to propose the emerging trends and future directions in clean energy research. Clean Energy Conversion Technology and Biomass Energy Utilisation, Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology, Policy-Making in Clean Energy Transition, Impact of Clean Energy Use and Economic Development on Carbon Emissions, Household Use of Clean Energy, and Clean Energy Stock Markets are trending topics in the clean energy transition.

Specifically, a growing trend in Clean Energy Conversion Technology and Biomass Energy Utilisation aims to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the biomass gasification system [ 10 , 11 ]. Research in Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology has been paying more attention to explore ways to effectively integrate new energy resources with traditional ones, construct an efficient hybrid energy system, and resolve the environmental problems incurred from the use of clean energy [ 12 , 13 ]. Because of the significant discrepancies in the influences of local governments’ clean energy policies [ 14 , 15 ], the Policy-Making in Clean Energy Transition research continues to explore how local governments should formulate policies conducive to the development of clean energy. The Impact of Clean Energy Use and Economic Development on Carbon Emissions stream provides policymakers with emission reduction recommendations. It starts to investigate the implications of clean energy use and various economic factors, particularly on carbon productivity and carbon transfer [ 16 ]. The vital issue of Household Use of Clean Energy research is to increase the the heating system’s energy efficiency and to accelerate the energy transfer of clean cooking [ 17 ]. Finally, studies on Clean Energy Stock Markets examine the correlation between clean energy stock prices and the overall stock market, green bond market, electricity market, and coal market [ 18 , 19 ].

Through systematic reviews of current and trending topics in clean energy research, we aim to delineate a critical research agenda for clean energy transition as an effective way to achieve a low-carbon development and carbon neutrality. The article proceeds as follows. Section 2 introduces the literature retrieval process, the bibliometric techniques used and the descriptive information of existing literature on clean energy. Section 3 illustrates the citation map to identify current main streams in clean energy research and provides a critical review of every stream. Section 4 proposes emerging areas and trending topics. Section 5 concludes the article and provides an agenda for future research in the clean energy transition.

2 Research methods

2.1 literature retrieval process.

The method of literature retrieval and bibliometric analysis used in this study is illustrated in Fig 1 . Specifically, we collect basic information and cited references of clean energy articles from Web of Science (WoS) over the period of 1950 to June 2020, with themes limited to “clean energy” and journal sources limited to “SSCI, SCIE, A&HCI.” A total of 2,652 initial articles is retrieved. For validation purposes, we have implemented manual checks to select relevant articles, resulting in 471 irrelevant articles removed. Following Linnenluecke et al. (2017) [ 20 ], we then add another ten most cited clean energy articles into our database. Therefore, we obtain 2,191 articles in our final dataset.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.g001

Table 1 shows the basic information of sample articles. The next section will introduce the bibliometric techniques used, i.e., R Bibliometrix, HistCite and CiteSpace, to analyse these clean energy articles.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.t001

2.2 Bibliometric techniques

2.2.1 r bibliometrix..

Bibliometrix is a widely-used R-package developed by Massimo and Corrado (2017) [ 21 ]. It provides access to a wide range of bibliometric functions and excellent visualisation tools. This article uses Bibliometrix to carry out descriptive statistical analysis to illustrate the diagrams for the number of publications over time and the author-keyword-journal connections (Sankey diagram).

2.2.2 HistCite.

HistCite is a citation software developed by Eugene (2004) [ 22 ]. The citation map generated by HistCite is highly useful for mapping out the relationships among highly cited publications [ 23 ]. It is a popular tool for researchers to explore research hotspots and how research themes develop over time. It is an essential tool for bibliometric analysis. This paper utilises HistCite to generate the citation map of 50 highly cited articles as guidance to identify key streams of clean energy research.

2.2.3 CiteSpace.

CiteSpace is a Java visualization application developed by Chen (2017) [ 24 ]. It has powerful bibliometric and visualization functions and is extremely popular in research. It generates a spectrum of colors to depict the literature network’s temporal orders and uses algorithms such as LLR for cluster labeling extraction. This article uses this application to cluster keywords of relevant literature from 2015 to 2020 to identify future research hotspots.

2.3 Descriptive information

2.3.1 publications over time..

Fig 2 illustrates the number of publications from 2000 to 2019. The sample ends at June 2020 and the total number of publications from January 2020 to June 2020 is 274; so to make the diagram more illustrative, we do not include the publication number of 2020. Fig 2 indicates a three-stage development of clean energy research. The first stage (from 2000 to 2010) is the initial stage, with an average of 17.5 articles published per year. The period of 2011–2015 is the developing stage, with an average of 97.4 articles published per year. The publications in the clean energy areas experience a significant increase from 2016, with an average number of 291.5 publications per year (2016–2019). It signals a robust momentum in clean energy research. The clean energy transition is crucially important to mitigate climate change issues and achieve carbon neutrality. Therefore, it is expected to continue to (exponentially) grow in the next few decades.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.g002

2.3.2 Author-Keyword-Journal (AKJ) analysis.

Fig 3 displays the Sankey diagram, i.e., the author-keyword-journal diagram. The three columns in Fig 3 are the top 20 authors, keywords, and source journals in clean energy research, respectively. The Sankey diagram gives a graphical overview of influential clean energy research. The keywords broadly fall into the following categories: Clean Energy Stock Performance, Clean Energy and Economy Growth, Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy Power Generation, and Clean Energy Policy. The major publishing journals in the clean energy area include Renewable Energy , Journal of Cleaner Production , Energy Policy , Energy Economics , Applied Energy , etc.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.g003

3 Developments in clean energy transition research

3.1 identification of current research streams.

In this section, we utilise HistCite to generate a citation network map for the top 50 cited articles in clean energy transition research. We then apply the triangulation process [ 23 ] to assign titles for each research stream, laying the foundation for the systematic review of these research themes. Table 2 summarises the citation information of top-cited literature, and Fig 4 illustrates the corresponding citation network map.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.g004

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.t002

In Fig 4 , each article is displayed as a node, with a larger-sized node denoting a higher number of citations. The arrows illustrate the citation connections among articles, with arrowheads pointed to the cited ones. Through the triangulation process, we categorise the current clean energy research into the following streams: Energy Transition, Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy, Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks, Clean Energy and Economics, and Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy. In the next section, we provide a comprehensive review of each of these five research streams.

3.2 Review of main research streams

3.2.1 energy transition..

The transition from traditional energy towards clean energy remains the major challenge for the first half of the 21st century [ 4 ]. We discuss the Energy Transition stream from two perspectives: obstacles in clean energy transition and influencing factors on household energy transition.

3 . 2 . 1 . 1 Obstacles in the clean energy transition . Current major challenges to clean energy transition include subsidies to traditional energy, high initial capital cost, high transaction cost, high financing risk, lack of price risk assessment, lack of clean technology, low market acceptance rate, and immature regulatory systems [ 25 – 28 ]. Luthra et al. (2015) [ 29 ] categorised 28 obstacles to the clean energy transition into seven dimensions: economy and finance, market, awareness and information, technology, ecology and geography, culture and behavior, political and government issues. For an in-depth look, the more challenging obstacles are ecological problems, consumers’ lack of awareness of clean technology, inability to obtain solar radiation data, technical complexity, rehabilitation disputes and lack of political commitment.

3 . 2 . 1 . 2 Influencing factors on household energy transition . Household energy use is a substantial part of energy consumption. Investigating the driving factors affecting household energy transition is an effective way to promote clean energy transition. Researchers conduct surveys on households in urban and rural areas in China, India, Brazil, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and other countries. Their results show that 1) household income and fuel prices are the dominant factors affecting household energy transition, 2) household size, household members’ occupations, and education levels are also important factors, and 3) the availability and cost of clean energy alternatives have a significant impact on rural household energy transition [ 30 – 42 ].

3.2.2 Clean energy and carbon emission policy.

The high carbon energy represented by raw coal was still the main factor in promoting the growth of energy-related CO2 emissions [ 43 ]. Appropriate and effective policies are needed to accelerate the clean energy transition. The majority of countries worldwide have set goals to increase the share of clean energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resulting in various supportive policies [ 44 ]. Existing policies concentrate around quantity-driven policies. For instance, levying a carbon tax is a typical quantity-driven policy. Guo et al. (2014) [ 5 ] argues that a moderate carbon tax significantly reduces carbon emissions and fossil fuel consumption, with a minimal impact on economic growth. But a more recent study claims that carbon taxes are not always good for the environment [ 45 ]. Another example is feed-in tariffs (FIT), a quantity-driven policy targeted at specific technology [ 46 ]. It is generally regarded as an effective policy for clean energy transition due to its advantages of low costs, low risks, and high innovation incentives [ 47 – 51 ].

3.2.3 Impact of oil price on alternative energy stocks.

The way how oil prices affect stock prices works as follows. On the one hand, rising oil prices increase production and service costs and decrease cash flow turnover, leading to a stock price drop. On the other hand, rising oil prices also indicate the mounting inflation pressure and discount rate, resulting in stock price drop [ 52 ]. As a critical component of the stock market, energy stocks are also highly correlated with oil prices [ 52 – 55 ]. Nevertheless, the negative impact of oil prices may only be a short-term effect for clean energy stocks [ 6 ].

3.2.4 Clean energy and economics.

The clean energy transition is closely related to economic development [ 7 ]. In Fig 4 , the theme of Clean Energy and Economy contains comparatively more nodes (articles), the majority of which use different econometric models to examine the relationship between clean energy consumption and socio-economic variables such as economic growth and FDI. In the short term, there exists a positive correlation and bidirectional causal relationship between clean energy consumption and economic development. In the long run, clean energy consumption will positively affect on economic growth [ 8 , 56 – 60 ]. The empirical results of Paramati et al.(2016) [ 8 ] indicate that there is a unidirectional causality running from FDI to clean energy consumption, with inflows of FDI having a positive impact on the latter. Moreover, the results of Paramati et al.(2016) [ 8 ] also show that the development of the stock market has brought more investment in the clean energy industry and plays a significant role in promoting clean energy transition.

3.2.5 Venture capital investments in clean energy.

Venture capital (VC) is one of the main drivers of technology advancement, especially in new and innovative fields such as clean energy. As the demand for clean energy increases, there has been a surge of venture capital inflows, especially private VCs, into clean energy companies [ 9 , 61 , 62 ]. Currently, clean energy has become the third-largest venture investment field [ 63 ]. In addition, there are also risks embedded in clean energy investments, including market risks, technology risks, human resource risks, and more importantly, regulatory risks [ 64 ]. However, it is feasible to reduce market risks through appropriate business models, reduce technology risks through publicly funded R&D projects, reduce human resource risks through market liberalisation, and reduce regulatory risks through effective government policies [ 64 , 65 ].

4 Emerging research areas

To illustrate the emerging topics in clean energy transition research, we utilise CiteSpace to conduct cluster analysis on sample articles published in recent five years, from 2015 to 2020. The following two sections provide basic information on identified emerging topics and provide a detailed analysis of the relevant literature.

4.1 Identifications of emerging research areas

Fig 5 demonstrates the keyword co-occurrence network map of recent five years’ publications in clean energy transition areas, with a larger circle (keyword) representing more frequent occurrence, and darker colour representing earlier occurrence (publication time). The lines connecting circles (keywords) refer to co-occurrence.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.g005

Using cluster analysis, CiteSpace classifies recent five years’ publications into seven clusters, reflecting seven emerging research topics in clean energy research. The clustered emerging topics include Surface Properties, Fuel Cell, Energy Transition, CO 2 Emission, Household Fuel Use, Oil Price, and Wind Farm. Once again, we apply the triangulation process to define the title of each cluster (area) and provide more details in Table 3 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091.t003

4.2 Analyses of emerging research areas

4.2.1 clean energy conversion technology and biomass energy utilization..

Converting industrial waste and household garbage into clean energy can help deal with the current shortage of clean energy and protect the environment through the recycling process. Studies show that kitchen waste, animal waste, agricultural waste, forestry waste, waste plastics and waste tyres can be converted into clean energy through advanced technologies such as thermochemical conversion or hydrothermal carbonisation [ 10 , 66 – 70 ]. Research on improving these conversion technologies is a trending research hotspot. For example, biomass gasification is a feasible and practical clean energy conversion technology, but it faces crucial challenges to effectively eliminate the tar generated during the gasification process [ 11 , 71 , 72 ]. Another trending research topic in this area is to enhance the efficiency and reliability of biomass gasification. In addition, with the continuous advancement of clean energy conversion technology, how to formulate policies to implement more effective classifications of waste and refuse continues to be an urgent issue to be further explored.

4.2.2 Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology.

Comprehensive utilisation of various energy resources is an ideal approach to alleviate the energy crisis [ 73 ]. Many scholars have investigated how to integrate various new and traditional energy resources, including photovoltaics, batteries, diesel, wind energy, and solar energy, to build a highly effective hybrid energy system [ 12 , 13 , 74 ]. Research on the development of clean energy battery systems, the optimisation of power station scale, and generator systems also receives extensive academic attention [ 75 , 76 ].

Electricity generation from clean energy, such as wind and solar, plays a key role in the clean technology optimisation research [ 77 , 78 ]; however, a series of problems are setting obstacles for it. For instance, wind power generation has a high level of uncertainty, and there are potential exposure risks to the operation of a power grid [ 79 , 80 ]. Therefore, research on wind power generation in recent years tends to focus on wind flow models with the expectation to achieve a more accurate prediction of wind power generation [ 79 , 81 ]. Besides, considering the negative impact of the wind power plant on the environment, researchers have made significant explorations on the environmental effects of wind farms and on the selection of wind farm locations for harnessing wind energy [ 82 – 87 ]. Resolving the problems arising from the use of clean energy is an important topic to be further examined.

4.2.3 Policy-making in clean energy transition.

Regulations and legislations guarantee the secure transition towards clean energy. The government thus plays an essential role in addressing the potential risks incurred by the clean energy transition process. Relevant policies involve electricity price standards, emission trading system, clean energy investment policies, and the use of innovative finance tools in clean energy support [ 14 , 15 , 88 , 89 ]. Tingey and Webb (2020) [ 90 ], Bayulgen (2020) [ 91 ] and Proedrou (2019) [ 92 ] evaluate the practices of local government in the UK, US, and EU in terms of the clean energy transition. Their results indicate that although most local governments have adopted clean energy policies, the effectiveness of these policies varies substantially. To improve the effectiveness of energy policies, the views of different local energy users should be taken into account [ 93 ]. Therefore, what policies local governments should formulate to accelerate clean energy development will continue to be one of the research hotspots in clean energy transition research.

4.2.4 Impact of clean energy use and economic development on carbon emissions.

A large body of literature concentrates on how clean energy, economic growth, land resource use, industrial restructuring, financial market development, the application of new technology and R&D activities affect carbon emissions in recent clean energy areas [ 16 , 94 – 100 ]. And it is likely to be a hot issue worth studying in the future. With the improvement of carbon emission measurement methods, research on the impact of the aforementioned factors on carbon productivity and carbon transfer is attracting increasing scholarly attention [ 101 – 103 ]. Moreover, from a micro point of view, the role of enterprises, as an essential component of the national economy, in environmental governance will become another trending research direction [ 104 ].

4.2.5 Household use of clean energy.

Given that household energy use for heating and cooking is an essential part of energy use, recent studies have made substantial progress on enhancing the heating system’s energy efficiency and advancing the clean energy transition for cooking [ 17 , 105 – 108 ]. Moreover, in terms of the driving factors on the household clean energy transition, more recent literature indicates that household income and energy prices are found to have significant effects on household energy use decisions. Therefore, energy poverty is also an issue worth future research attention [ 109 – 111 ].

4.2.6 Clean energy stock markets.

Without support from the financial markets, the clean energy industry alone cannot secure the desired level of clean energy development. In effect, clean energy stocks have recently become a popular investment asset for investors, especially for those with strong considerations for environmental protection [ 18 , 112 ]. In addition to the follow-up research on the impact of oil price on clean energy stock prices [ 19 , 113 , 114 ], increasingly great attention has been focused on the relationship between clean energy stock investment and its driving factors, including the overall stock market, bond market, electricity market, coal market, gold market, silver market and many more [ 18 , 112 , 115 – 118 ]. Therefore, we reckon that the relationship between clean energy stocks and the financial markets, especially the green bond market [ 119 ] and the carbon market [ 53 ], has great potential to be explored in future clean energy research.

5 Conclusions

Clean energy transition plays a crucial role in post-pandemic green recoveries and carbon neutrality. To advance understanding of clean energy transition, this paper provides a systematic review of existing clean energy literature through a combination of bibliometric analysis techniques. Overall, there has been a surging trend of clean energy research since 2000, especially after 2016, clean energy research has experienced exponential growth.

We collect clean energy literature from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database over the period from 1950 to 2020. Using bibliometric analysis, we identify and provide a comprehensive review of five current main research streams in the clean energy area, including Energy Transition, Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy, Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks, Clean Energy and Economics, and Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy. Main challenges and opportunities facing the current clean energy transition with respect to each research stream are investigated.

To illustrate emerging research topics that attract more recent academic attention, we apply bibliometric cluster analysis to clean energy literature published in recent five years (from 2015 to 2020). Six trending research areas in the clean energy field are proposed and analysed, including Clean Energy Conversion Technology and Biomass Energy Utilisation, Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology, Policy-Making in Clean Energy Transition, Impact of Clean Energy Use and Economic Development on Carbon Emissions, Household Use of Clean Energy, and Clean Energy Stock Markets.

Future research agenda of clean energy awaits theoretical and practical exploration. We propose that the advancement of clean technology is at the heart of clean energy transition and post-pandemic green recovery. Funding for clean energy transition is a critical challenge that needs innovative financial instruments and policy support. Thus green bond markets, carbon taxes and emission trading system (ETS) need in-depth investigation. With more disruptive financing tools available such as crowdfunding, efforts from enterprises and individuals also deserve more attention. In addition, international collaborations on clean energy transition projects are highly recommended. Intensive international collaborations and cooperations are of high importance to achieve the low-carbon development. The completion of the global warming goal needs collective contributions from all countries over the world. A community of common destiny for all of humankind cannot be successfully built with efforts from only a small number of highly engaged countries. The current collaboration in clean energy research lacks worldwide collaborations in climate change actions. Therefore, it is highly recommended that all countries shall shoulder their responsibilities in climate change mitigation and adaptation, with steady growth of environmental investments and frequent collaborations with leading countries in climate change actions.

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Renewable energy for sustainable development in India: current status, future prospects, challenges, employment, and investment opportunities

• Charles Rajesh Kumar. J   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2354-6463 1 &
• M. A. Majid 1  

Energy, Sustainability and Society volume  10 , Article number:  2 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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The primary objective for deploying renewable energy in India is to advance economic development, improve energy security, improve access to energy, and mitigate climate change. Sustainable development is possible by use of sustainable energy and by ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for citizens. Strong government support and the increasingly opportune economic situation have pushed India to be one of the top leaders in the world’s most attractive renewable energy markets. The government has designed policies, programs, and a liberal environment to attract foreign investments to ramp up the country in the renewable energy market at a rapid rate. It is anticipated that the renewable energy sector can create a large number of domestic jobs over the following years. This paper aims to present significant achievements, prospects, projections, generation of electricity, as well as challenges and investment and employment opportunities due to the development of renewable energy in India. In this review, we have identified the various obstacles faced by the renewable sector. The recommendations based on the review outcomes will provide useful information for policymakers, innovators, project developers, investors, industries, associated stakeholders and departments, researchers, and scientists.

Introduction

The sources of electricity production such as coal, oil, and natural gas have contributed to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is essential to raise the standard of living by providing cleaner and more reliable electricity [ 1 ]. India has an increasing energy demand to fulfill the economic development plans that are being implemented. The provision of increasing quanta of energy is a vital pre-requisite for the economic growth of a country [ 2 ]. The National Electricity Plan [NEP] [ 3 ] framed by the Ministry of Power (MoP) has developed a 10-year detailed action plan with the objective to provide electricity across the country, and has prepared a further plan to ensure that power is supplied to the citizens efficiently and at a reasonable cost. According to the World Resource Institute Report 2017 [ 4 , 5 ], India is responsible for nearly 6.65% of total global carbon emissions, ranked fourth next to China (26.83%), the USA (14.36%), and the EU (9.66%). Climate change might also change the ecological balance in the world. Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) have been submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. The latter has hoped to achieve the goal of limiting the rise in global temperature to well below 2 °C [ 6 , 7 ]. According to a World Energy Council [ 8 ] prediction, global electricity demand will peak in 2030. India is one of the largest coal consumers in the world and imports costly fossil fuel [ 8 ]. Close to 74% of the energy demand is supplied by coal and oil. According to a report from the Center for monitoring Indian economy, the country imported 171 million tons of coal in 2013–2014, 215 million tons in 2014–2015, 207 million tons in 2015–2016, 195 million tons in 2016–2017, and 213 million tons in 2017–2018 [ 9 ]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find alternate sources for generating electricity.

In this way, the country will have a rapid and global transition to renewable energy technologies to achieve sustainable growth and avoid catastrophic climate change. Renewable energy sources play a vital role in securing sustainable energy with lower emissions [ 10 ]. It is already accepted that renewable energy technologies might significantly cover the electricity demand and reduce emissions. In recent years, the country has developed a sustainable path for its energy supply. Awareness of saving energy has been promoted among citizens to increase the use of solar, wind, biomass, waste, and hydropower energies. It is evident that clean energy is less harmful and often cheaper. India is aiming to attain 175 GW of renewable energy which would consist of 100 GW from solar energy, 10 GW from bio-power, 60 GW from wind power, and 5 GW from small hydropower plants by the year 2022 [ 11 ]. Investors have promised to achieve more than 270 GW, which is significantly above the ambitious targets. The promises are as follows: 58 GW by foreign companies, 191 GW by private companies, 18 GW by private sectors, and 5 GW by the Indian Railways [ 12 ]. Recent estimates show that in 2047, solar potential will be more than 750 GW and wind potential will be 410 GW [ 13 , 14 ]. To reach the ambitious targets of generating 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, it is essential that the government creates 330,000 new jobs and livelihood opportunities [ 15 , 16 ].

A mixture of push policies and pull mechanisms, accompanied by particular strategies should promote the development of renewable energy technologies. Advancement in technology, proper regulatory policies [ 17 ], tax deduction, and attempts in efficiency enhancement due to research and development (R&D) [ 18 ] are some of the pathways to conservation of energy and environment that should guarantee that renewable resource bases are used in a cost-effective and quick manner. Hence, strategies to promote investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector along with jobs for the unskilled workers, technicians, and contractors are discussed. This article also manifests technological and financial initiatives [ 19 ], policy and regulatory framework, as well as training and educational initiatives [ 20 , 21 ] launched by the government for the growth and development of renewable energy sources. The development of renewable technology has encountered explicit obstacles, and thus, there is a need to discuss these barriers. Additionally, it is also vital to discover possible solutions to overcome these barriers, and hence, proper recommendations have been suggested for the steady growth of renewable power [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Given the enormous potential of renewables in the country, coherent policy measures and an investor-friendly administration might be the key drivers for India to become a global leader in clean and green energy.

Projection of global primary energy consumption

An energy source is a necessary element of socio-economic development. The increasing economic growth of developing nations in the last decades has caused an accelerated increase in energy consumption. This trend is anticipated to grow [ 25 ]. A prediction of future power consumption is essential for the investigation of adequate environmental and economic policies [ 26 ]. Likewise, an outlook to future power consumption helps to determine future investments in renewable energy. Energy supply and security have not only increased the essential issues for the development of human society but also for their global political and economic patterns [ 27 ]. Hence, international comparisons are helpful to identify past, present, and future power consumption.

Table 1 shows the primary energy consumption of the world, based on the BP Energy Outlook 2018 reports. In 2016, India’s overall energy consumption was 724 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) and is expected to rise to 1921 Mtoe by 2040 with an average growth rate of 4.2% per annum. Energy consumption of various major countries comprises commercially traded fuels and modern renewables used to produce power. In 2016, India was the fourth largest energy consumer in the world after China, the USA, and the Organization for economic co-operation and development (OECD) in Europe [ 29 ].

The projected estimation of global energy consumption demonstrates that energy consumption in India is continuously increasing and retains its position even in 2035/2040 [ 28 ]. The increase in India’s energy consumption will push the country’s share of global energy demand to 11% by 2040 from 5% in 2016. Emerging economies such as China, India, or Brazil have experienced a process of rapid industrialization, have increased their share in the global economy, and are exporting enormous volumes of manufactured products to developed countries. This shift of economic activities among nations has also had consequences concerning the country’s energy use [ 30 ].

Projected primary energy consumption in India

The size and growth of a country’s population significantly affects the demand for energy. With 1.368 billion citizens, India is ranked second, of the most populous countries as of January 2019 [ 31 ]. The yearly growth rate is 1.18% and represents almost 17.74% of the world’s population. The country is expected to have more than 1.383 billion, 1.512 billion, 1.605 billion, 1.658 billion people by the end of 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050, respectively. Each year, India adds a higher number of people to the world than any other nation and the specific population of some of the states in India is equal to the population of many countries.

The growth of India’s energy consumption will be the fastest among all significant economies by 2040, with coal meeting most of this demand followed by renewable energy. Renewables became the second most significant source of domestic power production, overtaking gas and then oil, by 2020. The demand for renewables in India will have a tremendous growth of 256 Mtoe in 2040 from 17 Mtoe in 2016, with an annual increase of 12%, as shown in Table 2 .

Table 3 shows the primary energy consumption of renewables for the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) from 2016 to 2040. India consumed around 17 Mtoe of renewable energy in 2016, and this will be 256 Mtoe in 2040. It is probable that India’s energy consumption will grow fastest among all major economies by 2040, with coal contributing most in meeting this demand followed by renewables. The percentage share of renewable consumption in 2016 was 2% and is predicted to increase by 13% by 2040.

How renewable energy sources contribute to the energy demand in India

Even though India has achieved a fast and remarkable economic growth, energy is still scarce. Strong economic growth in India is escalating the demand for energy, and more energy sources are required to cover this demand. At the same time, due to the increasing population and environmental deterioration, the country faces the challenge of sustainable development. The gap between demand and supply of power is expected to rise in the future [ 32 ]. Table 4 presents the power supply status of the country from 2009–2010 to 2018–2019 (until October 2018). In 2018, the energy demand was 1,212,134 GWh, and the availability was 1,203,567 GWh, i.e., a deficit of − 0.7% [ 33 ].

According to the Load generation and Balance Report (2016–2017) of the Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA), the electrical energy demand for 2021–2022 is anticipated to be at least 1915 terawatt hours (TWh), with a peak electric demand of 298 GW [ 34 ]. Increasing urbanization and rising income levels are responsible for an increased demand for electrical appliances, i.e., an increased demand for electricity in the residential sector. The increased demand in materials for buildings, transportation, capital goods, and infrastructure is driving the industrial demand for electricity. An increased mechanization and the shift to groundwater irrigation across the country is pushing the pumping and tractor demand in the agriculture sector, and hence the large diesel and electricity demand. The penetration of electric vehicles and the fuel switch to electric and induction cook stoves will drive the electricity demand in the other sectors shown in Table 5 .

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), a quarter of India’s energy demand can be met with renewable energy. The country could potentially increase its share of renewable power generation to over one-third by 2030 [ 35 ].

Table 6 presents the estimated contribution of renewable energy sources to the total energy demand. MoP along with CEA in its draft national electricity plan for 2016 anticipated that with 175 GW of installed capacity of renewable power by 2022, the expected electricity generation would be 327 billion units (BUs), which would contribute to 1611 BU energy requirements. This indicates that 20.3% of the energy requirements would be fulfilled by renewable energy by 2022 and 24.2% by 2027 [ 36 ]. Figure 1 shows the ambitious new target for the share of renewable energy in India’s electricity consumption set by MoP. As per the order of revised RPO (Renewable Purchase Obligations, legal act of June 2018), the country has a target of a 21% share of renewable energy in its total electricity consumption by March 2022. In 2014, the same goal was at 15% and increased to 21% by 2018. It is India’s goal to reach 40% renewable sources by 2030.

Target share of renewable energy in India’s power consumption

Estimated renewable energy potential in India

The estimated potential of wind power in the country during 1995 [ 37 ] was found to be 20,000 MW (20 GW), solar energy was 5 × 10 15 kWh/pa, bioenergy was 17,000 MW, bagasse cogeneration was 8000 MW, and small hydropower was 10,000 MW. For 2006, the renewable potential was estimated as 85,000 MW with wind 4500 MW, solar 35 MW, biomass/bioenergy 25,000 MW, and small hydropower of 15,000 MW [ 38 ]. According to the annual report of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for 2017–2018, the estimated potential of wind power was 302.251 GW (at 100-m mast height), of small hydropower 19.749 GW, biomass power 17.536 GW, bagasse cogeneration 5 GW, waste to energy (WTE) 2.554 GW, and solar 748.990 GW. The estimated total renewable potential amounted to 1096.080 GW [ 39 ] assuming 3% wasteland, which is shown in Table 7 . India is a tropical country and receives significant radiation, and hence the solar potential is very high [ 40 , 41 , 42 ].

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy in India

As of June 2018 reports, the country intends to reach 225 GW of renewable power capacity by 2022 exceeding the target of 175 GW pledged during the Paris Agreement. The sector is the fourth most attractive renewable energy market in the world. As in October 2018, India ranked fifth in installed renewable energy capacity [ 43 ].

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—according to region

Table 8 lists the cumulative installed capacity of both conventional and renewable energy sources. The cumulative installed capacity of renewable sources as on the 31 st of December 2018 was 74081.66 MW. Renewable energy (small hydropower, wind, biomass, WTE, solar) accounted for an approximate 21% share of the cumulative installed power capacity, and the remaining 78.791% originated from other conventional sources (coal, gas diesel, nuclear, and large hydropower) [ 44 ]. The best regions for renewable energy are the southern states that have the highest solar irradiance and wind in the country. When renewable energy alone is considered for analysis, the Southern region covers 49.121% of the cumulative installed renewable capacity, followed by the Western region (29.742%), the Northern region (18.890%), the Eastern region (1.836%), the North-Easter region 0.394%, and the Islands (0.017%). As far as conventional energy is concerned, the Western region with 33.452% ranks first and is followed by the Northern region with 28.484%, the Southern region (24.967%), the Eastern region (11.716%), the Northern-Eastern (1.366%), and the Islands (0.015%).

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—according to ownership

State government, central government, and private players drive the Indian energy sector. The private sector leads the way in renewable energy investment. Table 9 shows the installed gross renewable energy and conventional energy capacity (percentage)—ownership wise. It is evident from Fig. 2 that 95% of the installed renewable capacity derives from private companies, 2% from the central government, and 3% from the state government. The top private companies in the field of non-conventional energy generation are Tata Power Solar, Suzlon, and ReNew Power. Tata Power Solar System Limited are the most significant integrated solar power players in the country, Suzlon realizes wind energy projects, and ReNew Power Ventures operate with solar and wind power.

Gross renewable energy installed capacity (percentage)—Ownership wise as per the 31.12.2018 [ 43 ]

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—state wise

Table 10 shows the installed capacity of cumulative renewable energy (state wise), out of the total installed capacity of 74,081.66 MW, where Karnataka ranks first with 12,953.24 MW (17.485%), Tamilnadu second with 11,934.38 MW (16%), Maharashtra third with 9283.78 MW (12.532%), Gujarat fourth with 10.641 MW (10.641%), and Rajasthan fifth with 7573.86 MW (10.224%). These five states cover almost 66.991% of the installed capacity of total renewable. Other prominent states are Andhra Pradesh (9.829%), Madhya Pradesh (5.819%), Telangana (5.137%), and Uttar Pradesh (3.879%). These nine states cover almost 91.655%.

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—according to source

Under union budget of India 2018–2019, INR 3762 crore (USD 581.09 million), was allotted for grid-interactive renewable power schemes and projects. As per the 31.12.2018, the installed capacity of total renewable power (excluding large hydropower) in the country amounted to 74.08166 GW. Around 9.363 GW of solar energy, 1.766 GW of wind, 0.105 GW of small hydropower (SHP), and biomass power of 8.7 GW capacity were added in 2017–2018. Table 11 shows the installed capacity of renewable energy over the last 10 years until the 31.12.2018. Wind energy continues to dominate the countries renewable energy industry, accounting for over 47% of cumulative installed renewable capacity (35,138.15 MW), followed by solar power of 34% (25,212.26 MW), biomass power/cogeneration of 12% (9075.5 MW), and small hydropower of 6% (4517.45 MW). In the renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI) of 2018, India ranked in fourth position. The installed renewable energy production capacity has grown at an accelerated pace over the preceding few years, posting a CAGR of 19.78% between 2014 and 2018 [ 45 ] .

Estimation of the installed capacity of renewable energy

Table 12 gives the share of installed cumulative renewable energy capacity, in comparison with the installed conventional energy capacity. In 2022 and 2032, the installed renewable energy capacity will account for 32% and 35%, respectively [ 46 , 47 ]. The most significant renewable capacity expansion program in the world is being taken up by India. The government is preparing to boost the percentage of clean energy through a tremendous push in renewables, as discussed in the subsequent sections.

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy in India

The overall generation (including the generation from grid-connected renewable sources) in the country has grown exponentially. Between 2014–2015 and 2015–2016, it achieved 1110.458 BU and 1173.603 BU, respectively. The same was recorded with 1241.689 BU and 1306.614 BU during 2015–2016 and 1306.614 BU from 2016–2017 and 2017–2018, respectively. Figure 3 indicates that the annual renewable power production increased faster than the conventional power production. The rise accounted for 6.47% in 2015–2016 and 24.88% in 2017–2018, respectively. Table 13 compares the energy generation from traditional sources with that from renewable sources. Remarkably, the energy generation from conventional sources reached 811.143 BU and from renewable sources 9.860 BU in 2010 compared to 1.206.306 BU and 88.945 BU in 2017, respectively [ 48 ]. It is observed that the price of electricity production using renewable technologies is higher than that for conventional generation technologies, but is likely to fall with increasing experience in the techniques involved [ 49 ].

The annual growth in power generation as per the 30th of November 2018

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy—according to regions

Table 14 shows the gross electricity generation from renewable energy-region wise. It is noted that the highest renewable energy generation derives from the southern region, followed by the western part. As of November 2018, 50.33% of energy generation was obtained from the southern area and 29.37%, 18.05%, 2%, and 0.24% from Western, Northern, North-Eastern Areas, and the Island, respectively.

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy—according to states

Table 15 shows the gross electricity generation from renewable energy—region-wise. It is observed that the highest renewable energy generation was achieved from Karnataka (16.57%), Tamilnadu (15.82%), Andhra Pradesh (11.92%), and Gujarat (10.87%) as per November 2018. While adding four years from 2015–2016 to 2018–2019 Tamilnadu [ 50 ] remains in the first position followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy—according to sources

Table 16 shows the gross electricity generation from renewable energy—source-wise. It can be concluded from the table that the wind-based energy generation as per 2017–2018 is most prominent with 51.71%, followed by solar energy (25.40%), Bagasse (11.63%), small hydropower (7.55%), biomass (3.34%), and WTE (0.35%). There has been a constant increase in the generation of all renewable sources from 2014–2015 to date. Wind energy, as always, was the highest contributor to the total renewable power production. The percentage of solar energy produced in the overall renewable power production comes next to wind and is typically reduced during the monsoon months. The definite improvement in wind energy production can be associated with a “good” monsoon. Cyclonic action during these months also facilitates high-speed winds. Monsoon winds play a significant part in the uptick in wind power production, especially in the southern states of the country.

Estimation of gross electricity generation from renewable energy

Table 17 shows an estimation of gross electricity generation from renewable energy based on the 2015 report of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) [ 51 ]. It is predicted that the share of renewable power will be 10.2% by 2022, but renewable power technologies contributed a record of 13.4% to the cumulative power production in India as of the 31st of August 2018. The power ministry report shows that India generated 122.10 TWh and out of the total electricity produced, renewables generated 16.30 TWh as on the 31st of August 2018. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation report, it is anticipated that by the year 2040, around 49% of total electricity will be produced using renewable energy.

Current achievements in renewable energy 2017–2018

India cares for the planet and has taken a groundbreaking journey in renewable energy through the last 4 years [ 52 , 53 ]. A dedicated ministry along with financial and technical institutions have helped India in the promotion of renewable energy and diversification of its energy mix. The country is engaged in expanding the use of clean energy sources and has already undertaken several large-scale sustainable energy projects to ensure a massive growth of green energy.

1. India doubled its renewable power capacity in the last 4 years. The cumulative renewable power capacity in 2013–2014 reached 35,500 MW and rose to 70,000 MW in 2017–2018.

2. India stands in the fourth and sixth position regarding the cumulative installed capacity in the wind and solar sector, respectively. Furthermore, its cumulative installed renewable capacity stands in fifth position globally as of the 31st of December 2018.

3. As said above, the cumulative renewable energy capacity target for 2022 is given as 175 GW. For 2017–2018, the cumulative installed capacity amounted to 70 GW, the capacity under implementation is 15 GW and the tendered capacity was 25 GW. The target, the installed capacity, the capacity under implementation, and the tendered capacity are shown in Fig. 4 .

4. There is tremendous growth in solar power. The cumulative installed solar capacity increased by more than eight times in the last 4 years from 2.630 GW (2013–2014) to 22 GW (2017–2018). As of the 31st of December 2018, the installed capacity amounted to 25.2122 GW.

5. The renewable electricity generated in 2017–2018 was 101839 BUs.

6. The country published competitive bidding guidelines for the production of renewable power. It also discovered the lowest tariff and transparent bidding method and resulted in a notable decrease in per unit cost of renewable energy.

7. In 21 states, there are 41 solar parks with a cumulative capacity of more than 26,144 MW that have already been approved by the MNRE. The Kurnool solar park was set up with 1000 MW; and with 2000 MW the largest solar park of Pavagada (Karnataka) is currently under installation.

8. The target for solar power (ground mounted) for 2018–2019 is given as 10 GW, and solar power (Rooftop) as 1 GW.

9. MNRE doubled the target for solar parks (projects of 500 MW or more) from 20 to 40 GW.

10. The cumulative installed capacity of wind power increased by 1.6 times in the last 4 years. In 2013–2014, it amounted to 21 GW, from 2017 to 2018 it amounted to 34 GW, and as of 31st of December 2018, it reached 35.138 GW. This shows that achievements were completed in wind power use.

11. An offshore wind policy was announced. Thirty-four companies (most significant global and domestic wind power players) competed in the “expression of interest” (EoI) floated on the plan to set up India’s first mega offshore wind farm with a capacity of 1 GW.

12. 682 MW small hydropower projects were installed during the last 4 years along with 600 watermills (mechanical applications) and 132 projects still under development.

13. MNRE is implementing green energy corridors to expand the transmission system. 9400 km of green energy corridors are completed or under implementation. The cost spent on it was INR 10141 crore (101,410 Million INR = 1425.01 USD). Furthermore, the total capacity of 19,000 MVA substations is now planned to be complete by March 2020.

14. MNRE is setting up solar pumps (off-grid application), where 90% of pumps have been set up as of today and between 2014–2015 and 2017–2018. Solar street lights were more than doubled. Solar home lighting systems have been improved by around 1.5 times. More than 2,575,000 solar lamps have been distributed to students. The details are illustrated in Fig. 5 .

15. From 2014–2015 to 2017–2018, more than 2.5 lakh (0.25 million) biogas plants were set up for cooking in rural homes to enable families by providing them access to clean fuel.

16. New policy initiatives revised the tariff policy mandating purchase and generation obligations (RPO and RGO). Four wind and solar inter-state transmission were waived; charges were planned, the RPO trajectory for 2022 and renewable energy policy was finalized.

17. Expressions of interest (EoI) were invited for installing solar photovoltaic manufacturing capacities associated with the guaranteed off-take of 20 GW. EoI indicated 10 GW floating solar energy plants.

18. Policy for the solar-wind hybrid was announced. Tender for setting up 2 GW solar-wind hybrid systems in existing projects was invited.

19. To facilitate R&D in renewable power technology, a National lab policy on testing, standardization, and certification was announced by the MNRE.

20. The Surya Mitra program was conducted to train college graduates in the installation, commissioning, operations, and management of solar panels. The International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquarters in India (Gurgaon) will be a new commencement for solar energy improvement in India.

21. The renewable sector has become considerably more attractive for foreign and domestic investors, and the country expects to attract up to USD 80 billion in the next 4 years from 2018–2019 to 2021–2022.

22. The solar power capacity expanded by more than eight times from 2.63 GW in 2013–2014 to 22 GW in 2017–2018.

23. A bidding for 115 GW renewable energy projects up to March 2020 was announced.

24. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) acting for system/components of solar PV was established.

25. To recognize and encourage innovative ideas in renewable energy sectors, the Government provides prizes and awards. Creative ideas/concepts should lead to prototype development. The Name of the award is “Abhinav Soch-Nayi Sambhawanaye,” which means Innovative ideas—New possibilities.

Renewable energy target, installed capacity, under implementation and tendered [ 52 ]

Off-grid solar applications [ 52 ]

Solar energy

Under the National Solar Mission, the MNRE has updated the objective of grid-connected solar power projects from 20 GW by the year 2021–2022 to 100 GW by the year 2021–2022. In 2008–2009, it reached just 6 MW. The “Made in India” initiative to promote domestic manufacturing supported this great height in solar installation capacity. Currently, India has the fifth highest solar installed capacity worldwide. By the 31st of December 2018, solar energy had achieved 25,212.26 MW against the target of 2022, and a further 22.8 GW of capacity has been tendered out or is under current implementation. MNRE is preparing to bid out the remaining solar energy capacity every year for the periods 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 so that bidding may contribute with 100 GW capacity additions by March 2020. In this way, 2 years for the completion of projects would remain. Tariffs will be determined through the competitive bidding process (reverse e-auction) to bring down tariffs significantly. The lowest solar tariff was identified to be INR 2.44 per kWh in July 2018. In 2010, solar tariffs amounted to INR 18 per kWh. Over 100,000 lakh (10,000 million) acres of land had been classified for several planned solar parks, out of which over 75,000 acres had been obtained. As of November 2018, 47 solar parks of a total capacity of 26,694 MW were established. The aggregate capacity of 4195 MW of solar projects has been commissioned inside various solar parks (floating solar power). Table 18 shows the capacity addition compared to the target. It indicates that capacity addition increased exponentially.

Wind energy

As of the 31st of December 2018, the total installed capacity of India amounted to 35,138.15 MW compared to a target of 60 GW by 2022. India is currently in fourth position in the world for installed capacity of wind power. Moreover, around 9.4 GW capacity has been tendered out or is under current implementation. The MNRE is preparing to bid out for A 10 GW wind energy capacity every year for 2018–2019 and 2019–2020, so that bidding will allow for 60 GW capacity additions by March 2020, giving the remaining two years for the accomplishment of the projects. The gross wind energy potential of the country now reaches 302 GW at a 100 m above-ground level. The tariff administration has been changed from feed-in-tariff (FiT) to the bidding method for capacity addition. On the 8th of December 2017, the ministry published guidelines for a tariff-based competitive bidding rule for the acquisition of energy from grid-connected wind energy projects. The developed transparent process of bidding lowered the tariff for wind power to its lowest level ever. The development of the wind industry has risen in a robust ecosystem ensuring project execution abilities and a manufacturing base. State-of-the-art technologies are now available for the production of wind turbines. All the major global players in wind power have their presence in India. More than 12 different companies manufacture more than 24 various models of wind turbines in India. India exports wind turbines and components to the USA, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and other Asian countries. Around 70–80% of the domestic production has been accomplished with strong domestic manufacturing companies. Table 19 lists the capacity addition compared to the target for the capacity addition. Furthermore, electricity generation from the wind-based capacity has improved, even though there was a slowdown of new capacity in the first half of 2018–2019 and 2017–2018.

The national energy storage mission—2018

The country is working toward a National Energy Storage Mission. A draft of the National Energy Storage Mission was proposed in February 2018 and initiated to develop a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework. During the last 4 years, projects included in R&D worth INR 115.8 million (USD 1.66 million) in the domain of energy storage have been launched, and a corpus of INR 48.2 million (USD 0.7 million) has been issued. India’s energy storage mission will provide an opportunity for globally competitive battery manufacturing. By increasing the battery manufacturing expertise and scaling up its national production capacity, the country can make a substantial economic contribution in this crucial sector. The mission aims to identify the cumulative battery requirements, total market size, imports, and domestic manufacturing. Table 20 presents the economic opportunity from battery manufacturing given by the National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, which provides relevant technical advice to central and state governments while designing strategic and long-term policies and programs for the Indian government.

Small hydropower—3-year action agenda—2017

Hydro projects are classified as large hydro, small hydro (2 to 25 MW), micro-hydro (up to 100 kW), and mini-hydropower (100 kW to 2 MW) projects. Whereas the estimated potential of SHP is 20 GW, the 2022 target for India in SHP is 5 GW. As of the 31st of December 2018, the country has achieved 4.5 GW and this production is constantly increasing. The objective, which was planned to be accomplished through infrastructure project grants and tariff support, was included in the NITI Aayog’s 3-year action agenda (2017–2018 to 2019–2020), which was published on the 1st of August 2017. MNRE is providing central financial assistance (CFA) to set up small/micro hydro projects both in the public and private sector. For the identification of new potential locations, surveys and comprehensive project reports are elaborated, and financial support for the renovation and modernization of old projects is provided. The Ministry has established a dedicated completely automatic supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)—based on a hydraulic turbine R&D laboratory at the Alternate Hydro Energy Center (AHEC) at IIT Roorkee. The establishment cost for the lab was INR 40 crore (400 million INR, 95.62 Million USD), and the laboratory will serve as a design and validation facility. It investigates hydro turbines and other hydro-mechanical devices adhering to national and international standards [ 54 , 55 ]. Table 21 shows the target and achievements from 2007–2008 to 2018–2019.

National policy regarding biofuels—2018

Modernization has generated an opportunity for a stable change in the use of bioenergy in India. MNRE amended the current policy for biomass in May 2018. The policy presents CFA for projects using biomass such as agriculture-based industrial residues, wood produced through energy plantations, bagasse, crop residues, wood waste generated from industrial operations, and weeds. Under the policy, CFA will be provided to the projects at the rate of INR 2.5 million (USD 35,477.7) per MW for bagasse cogeneration and INR 5 million (USD 70,955.5) per MW for non-bagasse cogeneration. The MNRE also announced a memorandum in November 2018 considering the continuation of the concessional customs duty certificate (CCDC) to set up projects for the production of energy using non-conventional materials such as bio-waste, agricultural, forestry, poultry litter, agro-industrial, industrial, municipal, and urban wastes. The government recently established the National policy on biofuels in August 2018. The MNRE invited an expression of interest (EOI) to estimate the potential of biomass energy and bagasse cogeneration in the country. A program to encourage the promotion of biomass-based cogeneration in sugar mills and other industries was also launched in May 2018. Table 22 shows how the biomass power target and achievements are expected to reach 10 GW of the target of 2022 before the end of 2019.

The new national biogas and organic manure program (NNBOMP)—2018

The National biogas and manure management programme (NBMMP) was launched in 2012–2013. The primary objective was to provide clean gaseous fuel for cooking, where the remaining slurry was organic bio-manure which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Further, 47.5 lakh (4.75 million) cumulative biogas plants were completed in 2014, and increased to 49.8 lakh (4.98 million). During 2017–2018, the target was to establish 1.10 lakh biogas plants (1.10 million), but resulted in 0.15 lakh (0.015 million). In this way, the cost of refilling the gas cylinders with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was greatly reduced. Likewise, tons of wood/trees were protected from being axed, as wood is traditionally used as a fuel in rural and semi-urban households. Biogas is a viable alternative to traditional cooking fuels. The scheme generated employment for almost 300 skilled laborers for setting up the biogas plants. By 30th of May 2018, the Ministry had issued guidelines for the implementation of the NNBOMP during the period 2017–2018 to 2019–2020 [ 56 ].

The off-grid and decentralized solar photovoltaic application program—2018

The program deals with the energy demand through the deployment of solar lanterns, solar streetlights, solar home lights, and solar pumps. The plan intended to reach 118 MWp of off-grid PV capacity by 2020. The sanctioning target proposed outlay was 50 MWp by 2017–2018 and 68 MWp by 2019–2020. The total estimated cost amounted to INR 1895 crore (18950 Million INR, 265.547 million USD), and the ministry wanted to support 637 crores (6370 million INR, 89.263 million USD) by its central finance assistance. Solar power plants with a 25 KWp size were promoted in those areas where grid power does not reach households or is not reliable. Public service institutions, schools, panchayats, hostels, as well as police stations will benefit from this scheme. Solar study lamps were also included as a component in the program. Thirty percent of financial assistance was provided to solar power plants. Every student should bear 15% of the lamp cost, and the ministry wanted to support the remaining 85%. As of October 2018, lantern and lamps of more than 40 Lakhs (4 million), home lights of 16.72 lakhs (1.672 million) number, street lights of 6.40 lakhs (0.64 million), solar pumps of 1.96 lakhs (0.196 million), and 187.99 MWp stand-alone devices had been installed [ 57 , 58 ].

Major government initiatives for renewable energy

Technological initiatives.

The Technology Development and Innovation Policy (TDIP) released on the 6th of October 2017 was endeavored to promote research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in the renewable energy sector [ 59 ]. RD&D intended to evaluate resources, progress in technology, commercialization, and the presentation of renewable energy technologies across the country. It aimed to produce renewable power devices and systems domestically. The evaluation of standards and resources, processes, materials, components, products, services, and sub-systems was carried out through RD&D. A development of the market, efficiency improvements, cost reductions, and a promotion of commercialization (scalability and bankability) were achieved through RD&D. Likewise, the percentage of renewable energy in the total electricity mix made it self-sustainable, industrially competitive, and profitable through RD&D. RD&D also supported technology development and demonstration in wind, solar, wind-solar hybrid, biofuel, biogas, hydrogen fuel cells, and geothermal energies. RD&D supported the R&D units of educational institutions, industries, and non-government organizations (NGOs). Sharing expertise, information, as well as institutional mechanisms for collaboration was realized by use of the technology development program (TDP). The various people involved in this program were policymakers, industrial innovators, associated stakeholders and departments, researchers, and scientists. Renowned R&D centers in India are the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gurgaon, the National Institute of Bio-Energy (NIBE), Kapurthala, and the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), Chennai. The TDP strategy encouraged the exploration of innovative approaches and possibilities to obtain long-term targets. Likewise, it efficiently supported the transformation of knowledge into technology through a well-established monitoring system for the development of renewable technology that meets the electricity needs of India. The research center of excellence approved the TDI projects, which were funded to strengthen R&D. Funds were provided for conducting training and workshops. The MNRE is now preparing a database of R&D accomplishments in the renewable energy sector.

The Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) program seeks to develop engineering and technology (prototype/process development) on a national scale. IMPRINT is steered by the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) and Indian Institute of science (IISCs). The expansion covers all areas of engineering and technology including renewable technology. The ministry of human resource development (MHRD) finances up to 50% of the total cost of the project. The remaining costs of the project are financed by the ministry (MNRE) via the RD&D program for renewable projects. Currently (2018–2019), five projects are under implementation in the area of solar thermal systems, storage for SPV, biofuel, and hydrogen and fuel cells which are funded by the MNRE (36.9 million INR, 0.518426 Million USD) and IMPRINT. Development of domestic technology and quality control are promoted through lab policies that were published on the 7th of December 2017. Lab policies were implemented to test, standardize, and certify renewable energy products and projects. They supported the improvement of the reliability and quality of the projects. Furthermore, Indian test labs are strengthened in line with international standards and practices through well-established lab policies. From 2015, the MNRE has provided “The New and Renewable Energy Young Scientist’s Award” to researchers/scientists who demonstrate exceptional accomplishments in renewable R&D.

Financial initiatives

One hundred percent financial assistance is granted by the MNRE to the government and NGOs and 50% financial support to the industry. The policy framework was developed to guide the identification of the project, the formulation, monitoring appraisal, approval, and financing. Between 2012 and 2017, a 4467.8 million INR, 62.52 Million USD) support was granted by the MNRE. The MNRE wanted to double the budget for technology development efforts in renewable energy for the current three-year plan period. Table 23 shows that the government is spending more and more for the development of the renewable energy sector. Financial support was provided to R&D projects. Exceptional consideration was given to projects that worked under extreme and hazardous conditions. Furthermore, financial support was applied to organizing awareness programs, demonstrations, training, workshops, surveys, assessment studies, etc. Innovative approaches will be rewarded with cash prizes. The winners will be presented with a support mechanism for transforming their ideas and prototypes into marketable commodities such as start-ups for entrepreneur development. Innovative projects will be financed via start-up support mechanisms, which will include an investment contract with investors. The MNRE provides funds to proposals for investigating policies and performance analyses related to renewable energy.

Technology validation and demonstration projects and other innovative projects with regard to renewables received a financial assistance of 50% of the project cost. The CFA applied to partnerships with industry and private institutions including engineering colleges. Private academic institutions, accredited by a government accreditation body, were also eligible to receive a 50% support. The concerned industries and institutions should meet the remaining 50% expenditure. The MNRE allocated an INR 3762.50 crore (INR 37625 million, 528.634 million USD) for the grid interactive renewable sources and an INR 1036.50 crore (INR 10365 million, 145.629 million USD) for off-grid/distributed and decentralized renewable power for the year 2018–2019 [ 60 ]. The MNRE asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), attempting to build renewable power projects under “priority sector lending” (priority lending should be done for renewable energy projects and without any limit) and to eliminate the obstacles in the financing of renewable energy projects. In July 2018, the Ministry of Finance announced that it would impose a 25% safeguard duty on solar panels and modules imported from China and Malaysia for 1 year. The quantum of tax might be reduced to 20% for the next 6 months, and 15% for the following 6 months.

Policy and regulatory framework initiatives

The regulatory interventions for the development of renewable energy sources are (a) tariff determination, (b) defining RPO, (c) promoting grid connectivity, and (d) promoting the expansion of the market.

Tariff policy amendments—2018

On the 30th of May 2018, the MoP released draft amendments to the tariff policy. The objective of these policies was to promote electricity generation from renewables. MoP in consultation with MNRE announced the long-term trajectory for RPO, which is represented in Table 24 . The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) achieved a favorable and neutral/off-putting effect in the growth of the renewable power sector through their RPO regulations in consultation with the MNRE. On the 25th of May 2018, the MNRE created an RPO compliance cell to reach India’s solar and wind power goals. Due to the absence of implementation of RPO regulations, several states in India did not meet their specified RPO objectives. The cell will operate along with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and SERCs to obtain monthly statements on RPO compliance. It will also take up non-compliance associated concerns with the relevant officials.

Repowering policy—2016

On the 09th of August 2016, India announced a “repowering policy” for wind energy projects. An about 27 GW turnaround was possible according to the policy. This policy supports the replacing of aging wind turbines with more modern and powerful units (fewer, larger, taller) to raise the level of electricity generation. This policy seeks to create a simplified framework and to promote an optimized use of wind power resources. It is mandatory because the up to the year 2000 installed wind turbines were below 500 kW in sites where high wind potential might be achieved. It will be possible to obtain 3000 MW from the same location once replacements are in place. The policy was initially applied for the one MW installed capacity of wind turbines, and the MNRE will extend the repowering policy to other projects in the future based on experience. Repowering projects were implemented by the respective state nodal agencies/organizations that were involved in wind energy promotion in their states. The policy provided an exception from the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for wind farms/turbines undergoing repowering because they could not fulfill the requirements according to the PPA during repowering. The repowering projects may avail accelerated depreciation (AD) benefit or generation-based incentive (GBI) due to the conditions appropriate to new wind energy projects [ 61 ].

The wind-solar hybrid policy—2018

On the 14th of May 2018, the MNRE announced a national wind-solar hybrid policy. This policy supported new projects (large grid-connected wind-solar photovoltaic hybrid systems) and the hybridization of the already available projects. These projects tried to achieve an optimal and efficient use of transmission infrastructure and land. Better grid stability was achieved and the variability in renewable power generation was reduced. The best part of the policy intervention was that which supported the hybridization of existing plants. The tariff-based transparent bidding process was included in the policy. Regulatory authorities should formulate the necessary standards and regulations for hybrid systems. The policy also highlighted a battery storage in hybrid projects for output optimization and variability reduction [ 62 ].

The national offshore wind energy policy—2015

The National Offshore Wind Policy was released in October 2015. On the 19th of June 2018, the MNRE announced a medium-term target of 5 GW by 2022 and a long-term target of 30 GW by 2030. The MNRE called expressions of Interest (EoI) for the first 1 GW of offshore wind (the last date was 08.06.2018). The EoI site is located in Pipavav port at the Gulf of Khambhat at a distance of 23 km facilitating offshore wind (FOWIND) where the consortium deployed light detection and ranging (LiDAR) in November 2017). Pipavav port is situated off the coast of Gujarat. The MNRE had planned to install more such equipment in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. On the 14 th of December 2018, the MNRE, through the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), called tender for offshore environmental impact assessment studies at intended LIDAR points at the Gulf of Mannar, off the coast of Tamil Nadu for offshore wind measurement. The timeline for initiatives was to firstly add 500 MW by 2022, 2 to 2.5 GW by 2027, and eventually reaching 5 GW between 2028 and 2032. Even though the installation of large wind power turbines in open seas is a challenging task, the government has endeavored to promote this offshore sector. Offshore wind energy would add its contribution to the already existing renewable energy mix for India [ 63 ] .

The feed-in tariff policy—2018

On the 28th of January 2016, the revised tariff policy was notified following the Electricity Act. On the 30th May 2018, the amendment in tariff policy was released. The intentions of this tariff policy are (a) an inexpensive and competitive electricity rate for the consumers; (b) to attract investment and financial viability; (c) to ensure that the perceptions of regulatory risks decrease through predictability, consistency, and transparency of policy measures; (d) development in quality of supply, increased operational efficiency, and improved competition; (e) increase the production of electricity from wind, solar, biomass, and small hydro; (f) peaking reserves that are acceptable in quantity or consistently good in quality or performance of grid operation where variable renewable energy source integration is provided through the promotion of hydroelectric power generation, including pumped storage projects (PSP); (g) to achieve better consumer services through efficient and reliable electricity infrastructure; (h) to supply sufficient and uninterrupted electricity to every level of consumers; and (i) to create adequate capacity, reserves in the production, transmission, and distribution that is sufficient for the reliability of supply of power to customers [ 64 ].

Training and educational initiatives

The MHRD has developed strong renewable energy education and training systems. The National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) develops course modules, and a Modular Employable Skilling program (MES) in its regular 2-year syllabus to include SPV lighting systems, solar thermal systems, SHP, and provides the certificate for seven trades after the completion of a 2-year course. The seven trades are plumber, fitter, carpenter, welder, machinist, and electrician. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) worked out a national skill development policy in 2015. They provide regular training programs to create various job roles in renewable energy along with the MNRE support through a skill council for green jobs (SCGJ), the National Occupational Standards (NOS), and the Qualification Pack (QP). The SCGJ is promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the MNRE. The industry partner for the SCGJ is ReNew Power [ 65 , 66 ].

The global status of India in renewable energy

Table 25 shows the RECAI (Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index) report of 40 countries. This report is based on the attractiveness of renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities. RECAI is based on macro vitals such as economic stability, investment climate, energy imperatives such as security and supply, clean energy gap, and affordability. It also includes policy enablement such as political stability and support for renewables. Its emphasis lies on project delivery parameters such as energy market access, infrastructure, and distributed generation, finance, cost and availability, and transaction liquidity. Technology potentials such as natural resources, power take-off attractiveness, potential support, technology maturity, and forecast growth are taken into consideration for ranking. India has moved to the fourth position of the RECAI-2018. Indian solar installations (new large-scale and rooftop solar capacities) in the calendar year 2017 increased exponentially with the addition of 9629 MW, whereas in 2016 it was 4313 MW. The warning of solar import tariffs and conflicts between developers and distribution firms are growing investor concerns [ 67 ]. Figure 6 shows the details of the installed capacity of global renewable energy in 2016 and 2017. Globally, 2017 GW renewable energy was installed in 2016, and in 2017, it increased to 2195 GW. Table 26 shows the total capacity addition of top countries until 2017. The country ranked fifth in renewable power capacity (including hydro energy), renewable power capacity (not including hydro energy) in fourth position, concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) and wind power were also in fourth position [ 68 ].

Globally installed capacity of renewable energy in 2017—Global 2018 status report with regard to renewables [ 68 ]

The investment opportunities in renewable energy in India

The investments into renewable energy in India increased by 22% in the first half of 2018 compared to 2017, while the investments in China dropped by 15% during the same period, according to a statement by the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), which is shown in Table 27 [ 69 , 70 ]. At this rate, India is expected to overtake China and become the most significant growth market for renewable energy by the end of 2020. The country is eyeing pole position for transformation in renewable energy by reaching 175 GW by 2020. To achieve this target, it is quickly ramping up investments in this sector. The country added more renewable capacity than conventional capacity in 2018 when compared to 2017. India hosted the ISA first official summit on the 11.03.2018 for 121 countries. This will provide a standard platform to work toward the ambitious targets for renewable energy. The summit will emphasize India’s dedication to meet global engagements in a time-bound method. The country is also constructing many sizeable solar power parks comparable to, but larger than, those in China. Half of the earth’s ten biggest solar parks under development are in India.

In 2014, the world largest solar park was the Topaz solar farm in California with a 550 MW facility. In 2015, another operator in California, Solar Star, edged its capacity up to 579 MW. By 2016, India’s Kamuthi Solar Power Project in Tamil Nadu was on top with 648 MW of capacity (set up by the Adani Green Energy, part of the Adani Group, in Tamil Nadu). As of February 2017, the Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China was the new leader, with 850 MW of capacity [ 71 ]. Currently, there are 600 MW operating units and 1400 MW units under construction. The Shakti Sthala solar park was inaugurated on 01.03.2018 in Pavagada (Karnataka, India) which is expected to become the globe’s most significant solar park when it accomplishes its full potential of 2 GW. Another large solar park with 1.5 GW is scheduled to be built in the Kadappa region [ 72 ]. The progress in solar power is remarkable and demonstrates real clean energy development on the ground.

The Kurnool ultra-mega solar park generated 800 million units (MU) of energy in October 2018 and saved over 700,000 tons of CO 2 . Rainwater was harvested using a reservoir that helps in cleaning solar panels and supplying water. The country is making remarkable progress in solar energy. The Kamuthi solar farm is cleaned each day by a robotic system. As the Indian economy expands, electricity consumption is forecasted to reach 15,280 TWh in 2040. With the government’s intent, green energy objectives, i.e., the renewable sector, grow considerably in an attractive manner with both foreign and domestic investors. It is anticipated to attract investments of up to USD 80 billion in the subsequent 4 years. The government of India has raised its 175 GW target to 225 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022. The competitive benefit is that the country has sun exposure possible throughout the year and has an enormous hydropower potential. India was also listed fourth in the EY renewable energy country attractive index 2018. Sixty solar cities will be built in India as a section of MNRE’s “Solar cities” program.

In a regular auction, reduction in tariffs cost of the projects are the competitive benefits in the country. India accounts for about 4% of the total global electricity generation capacity and has the fourth highest installed capacity of wind energy and the third highest installed capacity of CSP. The solar installation in India erected during 2015–2016, 2016–2017, 2017–2018, and 2018–2019 was 3.01 GW, 5.52 GW, 9.36 GW, and 6.53 GW, respectively. The country aims to add 8.5 GW during 2019–2020. Due to its advantageous location in the solar belt (400 South to 400 North), the country is one of the largest beneficiaries of solar energy with relatively ample availability. An increase in the installed capacity of solar power is anticipated to exceed the installed capacity of wind energy, approaching 100 GW by 2022 from its current levels of 25.21226 GW as of December 2018. Fast falling prices have made Solar PV the biggest market for new investments. Under the Union Budget 2018–2019, a zero import tax on parts used in manufacturing solar panels was launched to provide an advantage to domestic solar panel companies [ 73 ].

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the renewable energy sector of India between April 2000 and June 2018 amounted to USD 6.84 billion according to the report of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP). The DIPP was renamed (gazette notification 27.01.2019) the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It is responsible for the development of domestic trade, retail trade, trader’s welfare including their employees as well as concerns associated with activities in facilitating and supporting business and startups. Since 2014, more than 42 billion USD have been invested in India’s renewable power sector. India reached US$ 7.4 billion in investments in the first half of 2018. Between April 2015 and June 2018, the country received USD 3.2 billion FDI in the renewable sector. The year-wise inflows expanded from USD 776 million in 2015–2016 to USD 783 million in 2016–2017 and USD 1204 million in 2017–2018. Between January to March of 2018, the INR 452 crore (4520 Million INR, 63.3389 million USD) of the FDI had already come in. The country is contributing with financial and promotional incentives that include a capital subsidy, accelerated depreciation (AD), waiver of inter-state transmission charges and losses, viability gap funding (VGF), and FDI up to 100% under the automated track.

The DIPP/DPIIT compiles and manages the data of the FDI equity inflow received in India [ 74 ]. The FDI equity inflow between April 2015 and June 2018 in the renewable sector is illustrated in Fig. 7 . It shows that the 2018–2019 3 months’ FDI equity inflow is half of that of the entire one of 2017–2018. It is evident from the figure that India has well-established FDI equity inflows. The significant FDI investments in the renewable energy sectors are shown in Table 28 . The collaboration between the Asian development bank and Renew Power Ventures private limited with 44.69 million USD ranked first followed by AIRRO Singapore with Diligent power with FDI equity inflow of 44.69 USD million.

The FDI equity inflow received between April 2015 and June 2018 in the renewable energy sector [ 73 ]

Strategies to promote investments

Strategies to promote investments (including FDI) by investors in the renewable sector:

Decrease constraints on FDI; provide open, transparent, and dependable conditions for foreign and domestic firms; and include ease of doing business, access to imports, comparatively flexible labor markets, and safeguard of intellectual property rights.

Establish an investment promotion agency (IPA) that targets suitable foreign investors and connects them as a catalyst with the domestic economy. Assist the IPA to present top-notch infrastructure and immediate access to skilled workers, technicians, engineers, and managers that might be needed to attract such investors. Furthermore, it should involve an after-investment care, recognizing the demonstration effects from satisfied investors, the potential for reinvestments, and the potential for cluster-development due to follow-up investments.

It is essential to consider the targeted sector (wind, solar, SPH or biomass, respectively) for which investments are required.

Establish the infrastructure needed for a quality investor, including adequate close-by transport facilities (airport, ports), a sufficient and steady supply of energy, a provision of a sufficiently skilled workforce, the facilities for the vocational training of specialized operators, ideally designed in collaboration with the investor.

Policy and other support mechanisms such as Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) play an influential role in underpinning returns and restricting uncertainties for project developers, indirectly supporting the availability of investment. Investors in renewable energy projects have historically relied on government policies to give them confidence about the costs necessary for electricity produced—and therefore for project revenues. Reassurance of future power costs for project developers is secured by signing a PPA with either a utility or an essential corporate buyer of electricity.

FiT have been the most conventional approach around the globe over the last decade to stimulate investments in renewable power projects. Set by the government concerned, they lay down an electricity tariff that developers of qualifying new projects might anticipate to receive for the resulting electricity over a long interval (15–20 years). These present investors in the tax equity of renewable power projects with a credit that they can manage to offset the tax burden outside in their businesses.

Table 29 presents the 2018 renewable energy investment report, source-wise, by the significant players in renewables according to the report of the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Report 2018. As per this report, global investment in renewable energy was USD of 279.8 billion in 2017. The top ten in the total global investments are China (126.1 $BN), the USA (40.5 $BN), Japan (13.4 $BN), India (10.9 $BN), Germany (10.4 $BN), Australia (8.5 $BN), UK (7.6 $BN), Brazil (6.0 $BN), Mexico (6.0 $BN), and Sweden (3.7 $BN) [ 75 ]. This achievement was possible since those countries have well-established strategies for promoting investments [ 76 , 77 ].

The appropriate objectives for renewable power expansion and investments are closely related to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) objectives, the implementation of the NDC, on the road to achieving Paris promises, policy competence, policy reliability, market absorption capacity, and nationwide investment circumstances that are the real purposes for renewable power expansion, which is a significant factor for the investment strategies, as is shown in Table 30 .

The demand for investments for building a Paris-compatible and climate-resilient energy support remains high, particularly in emerging nations. Future investments in energy grids and energy flexibility are of particular significance. The strategies and the comparison chart between China, India, and the USA are presented in Table 31 .

Table 32 shows France in the first place due to overall favorable conditions for renewables, heading the G20 in investment attractiveness of renewables. Germany drops back one spot due to a decline in the quality of the global policy environment for renewables and some insufficiencies in the policy design, as does the UK. Overall, with four European countries on top of the list, Europe, however, directs the way in providing attractive conditions for investing in renewables. Despite high scores for various nations, no single government is yet close to growing a role model. All countries still have significant room for increasing investment demands to deploy renewables at the scale required to reach the Paris objectives. The table shown is based on the Paris compatible long-term vision, the policy environment for renewable energy, the conditions for system integration, the market absorption capacity, and general investment conditions. India moved from the 11th position to the 9th position in overall investments between 2017 and 2018.

A Paris compatible long-term vision includes a de-carbonization plan for the power system, the renewable power ambition, the coal and oil decrease, and the reliability of renewables policies. Direct support policies include medium-term certainty of policy signals, streamlined administrative procedures, ensuring project realization, facilitating the use of produced electricity. Conditions for system integration include system integration-grid codes, system integration-storage promotion, and demand-side management policies. A market absorption capacity includes a prior experience with renewable technologies, a current activity with renewable installations, and a presence of major renewable energy companies. General investment conditions include non-financial determinants, depth of the financial sector as well, as an inflation forecast.

Employment opportunities for citizens in renewable energy in India

Global employment scenario.

According to the 2018 Annual review of the IRENA [ 78 ], global renewable energy employment touched 10.3 million jobs in 2017, an improvement of 5.3% compared with the quantity published in 2016. Many socio-economic advantages derive from renewable power, but employment continues to be exceptionally centralized in a handful of countries, with China, Brazil, the USA, India, Germany, and Japan in the lead. In solar PV employment (3.4 million jobs), China is the leader (65% of PV Jobs) which is followed by Japan, USA, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Germany, Philippines, and Turkey. In biofuels employment (1.9 million jobs), Brazil is the leader (41% of PV Jobs) followed by the USA, Colombia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, China, and India. In wind employment (1.1 million jobs), China is the leader (44% of PV Jobs) followed by Germany, USA, India, UK, Brazil, Denmark, Netherlands, France, and Spain.

Table 33 shows global renewable energy employment in the corresponding technology branches. As in past years, China maintained the most notable number of people employed (3880 million jobs) estimating for 43% of the globe’s total which is shown in Fig. 8 . In India, new solar installations touched a record of 9.6 GW in 2017, efficiently increasing the total installed capacity. The employment in solar PV improved by 36% and reached 164,400 jobs, of which 92,400 represented on-grid use. IRENA determines that the building and installation covered 46% of these jobs, with operations and maintenance (O&M) representing 35% and 19%, individually. India does not produce solar PV because it could be imported from China, which is inexpensive. The market share of domestic companies (Indian supplier to renewable projects) declined from 13% in 2014–2015 to 7% in 2017–2018. If India starts the manufacturing base, more citizens will get jobs in the manufacturing field. India had the world’s fifth most significant additions of 4.1 GW to wind capacity in 2017 and the fourth largest cumulative capacity in 2018. IRENA predicts that jobs in the wind sector stood at 60,500.

Renewable energy employment in selected countries [ 79 ]

The jobs in renewables are categorized into technological development, installation/de-installation, operation, and maintenance. Tables 34 , 35 , 36 , and 37 show the wind industry, solar energy, biomass, and small hydro-related jobs in project development, component manufacturing, construction, operations, and education, training, and research. As technology quickly evolves, workers in all areas need to update their skills through continuing training/education or job training, and in several cases could benefit from professional certification. The advantages of moving to renewable energy are evident, and for this reason, the governments are responding positively toward the transformation to clean energy. Renewable energy can be described as the country’s next employment boom. Renewable energy job opportunities can transform rural economy [ 79 , 80 ]. The renewable energy sector might help to reduce poverty by creating better employment. For example, wind power is looking for specialists in manufacturing, project development, and construction and turbine installation as well as financial services, transportation and logistics, and maintenance and operations.

The government is building more renewable energy power plants that will require a workforce. The increasing investments in the renewable energy sector have the potential to provide more jobs than any other fossil fuel industry. Local businesses and renewable sectors will benefit from this change, as income will increase significantly. Many jobs in this sector will contribute to fixed salaries, healthcare benefits, and skill-building opportunities for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. A range of skilled and unskilled jobs are included in all renewable energy technologies, even though most of the positions in the renewable energy industry demand a skilled workforce. The renewable sector employs semi-skilled and unskilled labor in the construction, operations, and maintenance after proper training. Unskilled labor is employed as truck drivers, guards, cleaning, and maintenance. Semi-skilled labor is used to take regular readings from displays. A lack of consistent data on the potential employment impact of renewables expansion makes it particularly hard to assess the quantity of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled personnel that might be needed.

Key findings in renewable energy employment

The findings comprise (a) that the majority of employment in the renewable sector is contract based, and that employees do not benefit from permanent jobs or security. (b) Continuous work in the industry has the potential to decrease poverty. (c) Most poor citizens encounter obstacles to entry-level training and the employment market due to lack of awareness about the jobs and the requirements. (d) Few renewable programs incorporate developing ownership opportunities for the citizens and the incorporation of women in the sector. (e) The inadequacy of data makes it challenging to build relationships between employment in renewable energy and poverty mitigation.

Recommendations for renewable energy employment

When building the capacity, focus on poor people and individuals to empower them with training in operation and maintenance.

Develop and offer training programs for citizens with minimal education and training, who do not fit current programs, which restrict them from working in renewable areas.

Include women in the renewable workforce by providing localized training.

Establish connections between training institutes and renewable power companies to guarantee that (a) trained workers are placed in appropriate positions during and after the completion of the training program and (b) training programs match the requirements of the renewable sector.

Poverty impact assessments might be embedded in program design to know how programs motivate poverty reduction, whether and how they influence the community.

Allow people to have a sense of ownership in renewable projects because this could contribute to the growth of the sector.

The details of the job being offered (part time, full time, contract-based), the levels of required skills for the job (skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled), the socio-economic status of the employee data need to be collected for further analysis.

Conduct investigations, assisted by field surveys, to learn about the influence of renewable energy jobs on poverty mitigation and differences in the standard of living.

Challenges faced by renewable energy in India

The MNRE has been taking dedicated measures for improving the renewable sector, and its efforts have been satisfactory in recognizing various obstacles.

Policy and regulatory obstacles

A comprehensive policy statement (regulatory framework) is not available in the renewable sector. When there is a requirement to promote the growth of particular renewable energy technologies, policies might be declared that do not match with the plans for the development of renewable energy.

The regulatory framework and procedures are different for every state because they define the respective RPOs (Renewable Purchase Obligations) and this creates a higher risk of investments in this sector. Additionally, the policies are applicable for just 5 years, and the generated risk for investments in this sector is apparent. The biomass sector does not have an established framework.

Incentive accelerated depreciation (AD) is provided to wind developers and is evident in developing India’s wind-producing capacity. Wind projects installed more than 10 years ago show that they are not optimally maintained. Many owners of the asset have built with little motivation for tax benefits only. The policy framework does not require the maintenance of the wind projects after the tax advantages have been claimed. There is no control over the equipment suppliers because they undertake all wind power plant development activities such as commissioning, operation, and maintenance. Suppliers make the buyers pay a premium and increase the equipment cost, which brings burden to the buyer.

Furthermore, ready-made projects are sold to buyers. The buyers are susceptible to this trap to save income tax. Foreign investors hesitate to invest because they are exempted from the income tax.

Every state has different regulatory policy and framework definitions of an RPO. The RPO percentage specified in the regulatory framework for various renewable sources is not precise.

RPO allows the SERCs and certain private firms to procure only a part of their power demands from renewable sources.

RPO is not imposed on open access (OA) and captive consumers in all states except three.

RPO targets and obligations are not clear, and the RPO compliance cell has just started on 22.05.2018 to collect the monthly reports on compliance and deal with non-compliance issues with appropriate authorities.

Penalty mechanisms are not specified and only two states in India (Maharashtra and Rajasthan) have some form of penalty mechanisms.

The parameter to determine the tariff is not transparent in the regulatory framework and many SRECs have established a tariff for limited periods. The FiT is valid for only 5 years, and this affects the bankability of the project.

Many SERCs have not decided on adopting the CERC tariff that is mentioned in CERCs regulations that deal with terms and conditions for tariff determinations. The SERCs have considered the plant load factor (PLF) because it varies across regions and locations as well as particular technology. The current framework does not fit to these issues.

Third party sale (TPS) is not allowed because renewable generators are not allowed to sell power to commercial consumers. They have to sell only to industrial consumers. The industrial consumers have a low tariff and commercial consumers have a high tariff, and SRCS do not allow OA. This stops the profit for the developers and investors.

Institutional obstacles

Institutes, agencies stakeholders who work under the conditions of the MNRE show poor inter-institutional coordination. The progress in renewable energy development is limited by this lack of cooperation, coordination, and delays. The delay in implementing policies due to poor coordination, decrease the interest of investors to invest in this sector.

The single window project approval and clearance system is not very useful and not stable because it delays the receiving of clearances for the projects ends in the levy of a penalty on the project developer.

Pre-feasibility reports prepared by concerned states have some deficiency, and this may affect the small developers, i.e., the local developers, who are willing to execute renewable projects.

The workforce in institutes, agencies, and ministries is not sufficient in numbers.

Proper or well-established research centers are not available for the development of renewable infrastructure.

Customer care centers to guide developers regarding renewable projects are not available.

Standards and quality control orders have been issued recently in 2018 and 2019 only, and there are insufficient institutions and laboratories to give standards/certification and validate the quality and suitability of using renewable technology.

Financial and fiscal obstacles

There are a few budgetary constraints such as fund allocation, and budgets that are not released on time to fulfill the requirement of developing the renewable sector.

The initial unit capital costs of renewable projects are very high compared to fossil fuels, and this leads to financing challenges and initial burden.

There are uncertainties related to the assessment of resources, lack of technology awareness, and high-risk perceptions which lead to financial barriers for the developers.

The subsidies and incentives are not transparent, and the ministry might reconsider subsidies for renewable energy because there was a sharp fall in tariffs in 2018.

Power purchase agreements (PPA) signed between the power purchaser and power generators on pre-determined fixed tariffs are higher than the current bids (Economic survey 2017–2018 and union budget on the 01.02.2019). For example, solar power tariff dropped to 2.44 INR (0. 04 USD) per unit in May 2017, wind power INR 3.46 per unit in February 2017, and 2.64 INR per unit in October 2017.

Investors feel that there is a risk in the renewable sector as this sector has lower gross returns even though these returns are relatively high within the market standards.

There are not many developers who are interested in renewable projects. While newly established developers (small and local developers) do not have much of an institutional track record or financial input, which are needed to develop the project (high capital cost). Even moneylenders consider it risky and are not ready to provide funding. Moneylenders look exclusively for contractors who have much experience in construction, well-established suppliers with proven equipment and operators who have more experience.

If the performance of renewable projects, which show low-performance, faces financial obstacles, they risks the lack of funding of renewable projects.

Financial institutions such as government banks or private banks do not have much understanding or expertise in renewable energy projects, and this imposes financial barriers to the projects.

Delay in payment by the SERCs to the developers imposes debt burden on the small and local developers because moneylenders always work with credit enhancement mechanisms or guarantee bonds signed between moneylenders and the developers.

Market obstacles

Subsidies are adequately provided to conventional fossil fuels, sending the wrong impression that power from conventional fuels is of a higher priority than that from renewables (unfair structure of subsidies)

There are four renewable markets in India, the government market (providing budgetary support to projects and purchase the output of the project), the government-driven market (provide budgetary support or fiscal incentives to promote renewable energy), the loan market (taking loan to finance renewable based applications), and the cash market (buying renewable-based applications to meet personal energy needs by individuals). There is an inadequacy in promoting the loan market and cash market in India.

The biomass market is facing a demand-supply gap which results in a continuous and dramatic increase in biomass prices because the biomass supply is unreliable (and, as there is no organized market for fuel), and the price fluctuations are very high. The type of biomass is not the same in all the states of India, and therefore demand and price elasticity is high for biomass.

Renewable power was calculated based on cost-plus methods (adding direct material cost, direct labor cost, and product overhead cost). This does not include environmental cost and shields the ecological benefits of clean and green energy.

There is an inadequate evacuation infrastructure and insufficient integration of the grid, which affects the renewable projects. SERCs are not able to use all generated power to meet the needs because of the non-availability of a proper evacuation infrastructure. This has an impact on the project, and the SERCs are forced to buy expensive power from neighbor states to fulfill needs.

Extending transmission lines is not possible/not economical for small size projects, and the seasonality of generation from such projects affect the market.

There are few limitations in overall transmission plans, distribution CapEx plans, and distribution licenses for renewable power. Power evacuation infrastructure for renewable energy is not included in the plans.

Even though there is an increase in capacity for the commercially deployed renewable energy technology, there is no decline in capital cost. This cost of power also remains high. The capital cost quoted by the developers and providers of equipment is too high due to exports of machinery, inadequate built up capacity, and cartelization of equipment suppliers (suppliers join together to control prices and limit competition).

There is no adequate supply of land, for wind, solar, and solar thermal power plants, which lead to poor capacity addition in many states.

Technological obstacles

Every installation of a renewable project contributes to complex risk challenges from environmental uncertainties, natural disasters, planning, equipment failure, and profit loss.

MNRE issued the standardization of renewable energy projects policy on the 11th of December 2017 (testing, standardization, and certification). They are still at an elementary level as compared to international practices. Quality assurance processes are still under starting conditions. Each success in renewable energy is based on concrete action plans for standards, testing and certification of performance.

The quality and reliability of manufactured components, imported equipment, and subsystems is essential, and hence quality infrastructure should be established. There is no clear document related to testing laboratories, referral institutes, review mechanism, inspection, and monitoring.

There are not many R&D centers for renewables. Methods to reduce the subsidies and invest in R&D lagging; manufacturing facilities are just replicating the already available technologies. The country is dependent on international suppliers for equipment and technology. Spare parts are not manufactured locally and hence they are scarce.

Awareness, education, and training obstacles

There is an unavailability of appropriately skilled human resources in the renewable energy sector. Furthermore, it faces an acute workforce shortage.

After installation of renewable project/applications by the suppliers, there is no proper follow-up or assistance for the workers in the project to perform maintenance. Likewise, there are not enough trained and skilled persons for demonstrating, training, operation, and maintenance of the plant.

There is inadequate knowledge in renewables, and no awareness programs are available to the general public. The lack of awareness about the technologies is a significant obstacle in acquiring vast land for constructing the renewable plant. Moreover, people using agriculture lands are not prepared to give their land to construct power plants because most Indians cultivate plants.

The renewable sector depends on the climate, and this varying climate also imposes less popularity of renewables among the people.

The per capita income is low, and the people consider that the cost of renewables might be high and they might not be able to use renewables.

The storage system increases the cost of renewables, and people believe it too costly and are not ready to use them.

The environmental benefits of renewable technologies are not clearly understood by the people and negative perceptions are making renewable technologies less prevalent among them.

Environmental obstacles

A single wind turbine does not occupy much space, but many turbines are placed five to ten rotor diameters from each other, and this occupies more area, which include roads and transmission lines.

In the field of offshore wind, the turbines and blades are bigger than onshore wind turbines, and they require a substantial amount of space. Offshore installations affect ocean activities (fishing, sand extraction, gravel extraction, oil extraction, gas extraction, aquaculture, and navigation). Furthermore, they affect fish and other marine wildlife.

Wind turbines influence wildlife (birds and bats) because of the collisions with them and due to air pressure changes caused by wind turbines and habitat disruption. Making wind turbines motionless during times of low wind can protect birds and bats but is not practiced.

Sound (aerodynamic, mechanical) and visual impacts are associated with wind turbines. There is poor practice by the wind turbine developers regarding public concerns. Furthermore, there are imperfections in surfaces and sound—absorbent material which decrease the noise from turbines. The shadow flicker effect is not taken as severe environmental impact by the developers.

Sometimes wind turbine material production, transportation of materials, on-site construction, assembling, operation, maintenance, dismantlement, and decommissioning may be associated with global warming, and there is a lag in this consideration.

Large utility-scale solar plants require vast lands that increase the risk of land degradation and loss of habitat.

The PV cell manufacturing process includes hazardous chemicals such as 1-1-1 Trichloroethene, HCL, H 2 SO 4 , N 2 , NF, and acetone. Workers face risks resulting from inhaling silicon dust. The manufacturing wastes are not disposed of properly. Proper precautions during usage of thin-film PV cells, which contain cadmium—telluride, gallium arsenide, and copper-indium-gallium-diselenide are missing. These materials create severe public health threats and environmental threats.

Hydroelectric power turbine blades kill aquatic ecosystems (fish and other organisms). Moreover, algae and other aquatic weeds are not controlled through manual harvesting or by introducing fish that can eat these plants.

Discussion and recommendations based on the research

Policy and regulation advancements.

The MNRE should provide a comprehensive action plan or policy for the promotion of the renewable sector in its regulatory framework for renewables energy. The action plan can be prepared in consultation with SERCs of the country within a fixed timeframe and execution of the policy/action plan.

The central and state government should include a “Must run status” in their policy and follow it strictly to make use of renewable power.

A national merit order list for renewable electricity generation will reduce power cost for the consumers. Such a merit order list will help in ranking sources of renewable energy in an ascending order of price and will provide power at a lower cost to each distribution company (DISCOM). The MNRE should include that principle in its framework and ensure that SERCs includes it in their regulatory framework as well.

SERCs might be allowed to remove policies and regulatory uncertainty surrounding renewable energy. SERCs might be allowed to identify the thrust areas of their renewable energy development.

There should be strong initiatives from municipality (local level) approvals for renewable energy-based projects.

Higher market penetration is conceivable only if their suitable codes and standards are adopted and implemented. MNRE should guide minimum performance standards, which incorporate reliability, durability, and performance.

A well-established renewable energy certificates (REC) policy might contribute to an efficient funding mechanism for renewable energy projects. It is necessary for the government to look at developing the REC ecosystem.

The regulatory administration around the RPO needs to be upgraded with a more efficient “carrot and stick” mechanism for obligated entities. A regulatory mechanism that both remunerations compliance and penalizes for non-compliance may likely produce better results.

RECs in India should only be traded on exchange. Over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange trading will potentially allow greater participation in the market. A REC forward curve will provide further price determination to the market participants.

The policymakers should look at developing and building the REC market.

Most states have defined RPO targets. Still, due to the absence of implemented RPO regulations and the inadequacy of penalties when obligations are not satisfied, several of the state DISCOMs are not complying completely with their RPO targets. It is necessary that all states adhere to the RPO targets set by respective SERCs.

The government should address the issues such as DISCOM financials, must-run status, problems of transmission and evacuation, on-time payments and payment guarantees, and deemed generation benefits.

Proper incentives should be devised to support utilities to obtain power over and above the RPO mandated by the SERC.

The tariff orders/FiTs must be consistent and not restricted for a few years.

Transmission requirements

The developers are worried that transmission facilities are not keeping pace with the power generation. Bays at the nearest substations are occupied, and transmission lines are already carrying their full capacity. This is due to the lack of coordination between MNRE and the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and CEA. Solar Corporation of India (SECI) is holding auctions for both wind and solar projects without making sure that enough evacuation facilities are available. There is an urgent need to make evacuation plans.

The solution is to develop numerous substations and transmission lines, but the process will take considerably longer time than the currently under-construction projects take to get finished.

In 2017–2018, transmission lines were installed under the green energy corridor project by the PGCIL, with 1900 circuit km targeted in 2018–2019. The implementation of the green energy corridor project explicitly meant to connect renewable energy plants to the national grid. The budget allocation of INR 6 billion for 2018–2019 should be increased to higher values.

The mismatch between MNRE and PGCIL, which are responsible for inter-state transmission, should be rectified.

State transmission units (STUs) are responsible for the transmission inside the states, and their fund requirements to cover the evacuation and transmission infrastructure for renewable energy should be fulfilled. Moreover, STUs should be penalized if they fail to fulfill their responsibilities.

The coordination and consultation between the developers (the nodal agency responsible for the development of renewable energy) and STUs should be healthy.

Financing the renewable sector

The government should provide enough budget for the clean energy sector. China’s annual budget for renewables is 128 times higher than India’s. In 2017, China spent USD 126.6 billion (INR 9 lakh crore) compared to India’s USD 10.9 billion (INR 75500 crore). In 2018, budget allocations for grid interactive wind and solar have increased but it is not sufficient to meet the renewable target.

The government should concentrate on R&D and provide a surplus fund for R&D. In 2017, the budget allotted was an INR 445 crore, which was reduced to an INR 272.85 crore in 2016. In 2017–2018, the initial allocation was an INR 144 crore that was reduced to an INR 81 crore during the revised estimates. Even the reduced amounts could not be fully used, there is an urgent demand for regular monitoring of R&D and the budget allocation.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) that was introduced in 2017 worsened the industry performance and has led to an increase in costs and poses a threat to the viability of the ongoing projects, ultimately hampering the target achievement. These GST issues need to be addressed.

Including the renewable sector as a priority sector would increase the availability of credit and lead to a more substantial participation by commercial banks.

Mandating the provident funds and insurance companies to invest the fixed percentage of their portfolio into the renewable energy sector.

Banks should allow an interest rebate on housing loans if the owner is installing renewable applications such as solar lights, solar water heaters, and PV panels in his house. This will encourage people to use renewable energy. Furthermore, income tax rebates also can be given to individuals if they are implementing renewable energy applications.

Improvement in manufacturing/technology

The country should move to domestic manufacturing. It imports 90% of its solar cell and module requirements from Malaysia, China, and Taiwan, so it is essential to build a robust domestic manufacturing basis.

India will provide “safeguard duty” for merely 2 years, and this is not adequate to build a strong manufacturing basis that can compete with the global market. Moreover, safeguard duty would work only if India had a larger existing domestic manufacturing base.

The government should reconsider the safeguard duty. Many foreign companies desiring to set up joint ventures in India provide only a lukewarm response because the given order in its current form presents inadequate safeguards.

There are incremental developments in technology at regular periods, which need capital, and the country should discover a way to handle these factors.

To make use of the vast estimated renewable potential in India, the R&D capability should be upgraded to solve critical problems in the clean energy sector.

A comprehensive policy for manufacturing should be established. This would support capital cost reduction and be marketed on a global scale.

The country should initiate an industry-academia partnership, which might promote innovative R&D and support leading-edge clean power solutions to protect the globe for future generations.

Encourage the transfer of ideas between industry, academia, and policymakers from around the world to develop accelerated adoption of renewable power.

Awareness about renewables

Social recognition of renewable energy is still not very promising in urban India. Awareness is the crucial factor for the uniform and broad use of renewable energy. Information about renewable technology and their environmental benefits should reach society.

The government should regularly organize awareness programs throughout the country, especially in villages and remote locations such as the islands.

The government should open more educational/research organizations, which will help in spreading knowledge of renewable technology in society.

People should regularly be trained with regard to new techniques that would be beneficial for the community.

Sufficient agencies should be available to sell renewable products and serve for technical support during installation and maintenance.

Development of the capabilities of unskilled and semiskilled workers and policy interventions are required related to employment opportunities.

An increase in the number of qualified/trained personnel might immediately support the process of installations of renewables.

Renewable energy employers prefer to train employees they recruit because they understand that education institutes fail to give the needed and appropriate skills. The training institutes should rectify this issue. Severe trained human resources shortages should be eliminated.

Upgrading the ability of the existing workforce and training of new professionals is essential to achieve the renewable goal.

Hybrid utilization of renewables

The country should focus on hybrid power projects for an effective use of transmission infrastructure and land.

India should consider battery storage in hybrid projects, which support optimizing the production and the power at competitive prices as well as a decrease of variability.

Formulate mandatory standards and regulations for hybrid systems, which are lagging in the newly announced policies (wind-solar hybrid policy on 14.05.2018).

The hybridization of two or more renewable systems along with the conventional power source battery storage can increase the performance of renewable technologies.

Issues related to sizing and storage capacity should be considered because they are key to the economic viability of the system.

Fiscal and financial incentives available for hybrid projects should be increased.

The renewable sector suffers notable obstacles. Some of them are inherent in every renewable technology; others are the outcome of a skewed regulative structure and marketplace. The absence of comprehensive policies and regulation frameworks prevent the adoption of renewable technologies. The renewable energy market requires explicit policies and legal procedures to enhance the attention of investors. There is a delay in the authorization of private sector projects because of a lack of clear policies. The country should take measures to attract private investors. Inadequate technology and the absence of infrastructure required to establish renewable technologies should be overcome by R&D. The government should allow more funds to support research and innovation activities in this sector. There are insufficiently competent personnel to train, demonstrate, maintain, and operate renewable energy structures and therefore, the institutions should be proactive in preparing the workforce. Imported equipment is costly compared to that of locally manufactured; therefore, generation of renewable energy becomes expensive and even unaffordable. Hence, to decrease the cost of renewable products, the country should become involve in the manufacturing of renewable products. Another significant infrastructural obstacle to the development of renewable energy technologies is unreliable connectivity to the grid. As a consequence, many investors lose their faith in renewable energy technologies and are not ready to invest in them for fear of failing. India should work on transmission and evacuation plans.

Inadequate servicing and maintenance of facilities and low reliability in technology decreases customer trust in some renewable energy technologies and hence prevent their selection. Adequate skills to repair/service the spare parts/equipment are required to avoid equipment failures that halt the supply of energy. Awareness of renewable energy among communities should be fostered, and a significant focus on their socio-cultural practices should be considered. Governments should support investments in the expansion of renewable energy to speed up the commercialization of such technologies. The Indian government should declare a well-established fiscal assistance plan, such as the provision of credit, deduction on loans, and tariffs. The government should improve regulations making obligations under power purchase agreements (PPAs) statutorily binding to guarantee that all power DISCOMs have PPAs to cover a hundred percent of their RPO obligation. To accomplish a reliable system, it is strongly suggested that renewables must be used in a hybrid configuration of two or more resources along with conventional source and storage devices. Regulatory authorities should formulate the necessary standards and regulations for hybrid systems. Making investments economically possible with effective policies and tax incentives will result in social benefits above and beyond the economic advantages.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

Accelerated depreciation

Billion units

Central Electricity Authority of India

Central electricity regulatory commission

Central financial assistance

Expression of interest

Foreign direct investment

Feed-in-tariff

Ministry of new and renewable energy

Research and development

Renewable purchase obligations

State electricity regulatory

Small hydropower

Terawatt hours

Waste to energy

Chr.Von Zabeltitz (1994) Effective use of renewable energies for greenhouse heating. Renewable Energy 5:479-485.

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The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Research Consultancy Institute (RCI) and the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Effat University, Saudi Arabia.

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Kumar. J, C.R., Majid, M.A. Renewable energy for sustainable development in India: current status, future prospects, challenges, employment, and investment opportunities. Energ Sustain Soc 10 , 2 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13705-019-0232-1

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Received : 15 September 2018

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Household clean energy consumption and health: Theoretical and empirical analysis

1 College of Economics, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China

2 School of Business and Tourism, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China

Abbas Ali Chandio

Dungang zang, yinying duan, associated data.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

The impact of energy consumption on health has become a widely debated topic around the world. However, much of the current research on this topic lacks a theoretical basis. As a result, this paper employs both theoretical and empirical analysis to investigate the impact of household clean energy consumption on residents' health. First, based on the theories of health economics and energy economics, this paper believes that the usage of clean energy can improve the health of residents. Then, the sample for this study is comprised of data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, and the Order Probit Model is applied for the empirical analysis. The outcomes of basic regression, robustness testing, and the treatment of endogenous factors reveal that the usage of clean energy has greatly benefited the health of residents. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis shows that long-term use of clean energy greatly improved the health of non-religious people and had a more pronounced impact on the health of women and low-income residents. In addition, the mechanistic analysis indicates that subjective happiness and air quality played a partial mediating role in the impact of cleaner energy consumption on health. Finally, cleaner household energy reduced the prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, lung disease, asthma, and depression. The conclusion of this paper supports the view of some existing literature, and several policy recommendations are made based on the research findings.

Introduction

The health crisis is an obstacle to the sustainable development of individuals, families, nations, and the world ( 1 , 2 ). From 2000 to 2020, the global mortality rate due to several diseases showed a continuous increasing trend (excluding deaths due to SARS and COVID-19) ( 3 ). All inhabitants of the world are threatened by various diseases, but health problems are more serious in developing countries. In the past 10 years, the number of deaths in China has increased by about 10 million each year (excluding deaths from COVID-19) ( 4 ). Many studies discussed the influencing factors of health from different perspectives, and some studies investigated the impact of household clean energy consumption on individual health.

Twumasi et al. ( 5 ) used the Order Probit Model to analyze research data from Ghana, and the results showed that the use of clean cooking fuels increased the proportion of healthy household members by 19.11%. Cleaner household energy improves indoor air quality ( 6 ) and reduces the probability of residents being diagnosed with respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, tuberculosis, and lung cancer ( 7 , 8 ). At the same time, long-term household use of clean energy mitigates the risk of climate extremes, improves outdoor living conditions and reduces the production and spread of disease ( 9 ). The use of clean energy increases the efficiency of tasks such as cooking and heating ( 10 ), saves time for residents to engage in productive activities, increases household income, and enhances disease prevention and treatment ( 11 ). The long-term use of clean energy in households significantly increases residents' life satisfaction and wellbeing ( 12 , 13 ), thereby improving their mental health ( 14 ). The health effects of household clean energy consumption were more pronounced for women ( 15 ), particularly in terms of lower rates of maternal morbidity and mortality ( 16 ). In addition, the positive health effects of cleaner energy use are more pronounced in developing countries, with households using clean energy sources for instance LPG having higher levels of health than those using non-clean energy sources like as coal in Pakistan ( 17 ). In the case of China, Liu et al. ( 18 ) found that using clean energy reduced the odds of residents being diagnosed with chronic lung disease and heart disease in China's families. Likewise, Zhang et al. ( 19 ) analysis research data from China, and the findings revealed that household energy cleanliness improved the physical health of rural residents and improved the mental health of urban residents.

According to the current literature, long-term household use of clean energy is beneficial to residents' health. The macro-statistics of China support this viewpoint. This paper compiled and plotted data from China's National Statistical Yearbook on per capita energy consumption and resident mortality (respiratory disease mortality + mental disease mortality) from 2009 to 2019 (see Figure 1 ). As shown in Figure 1 , per capita consumption of clean energy (electricity + LPG + natural gas) has been increasing, while consumption of non-clean energy (coal + coal gas) has been decreasing, indicating that China's household energy consumption is shifting to a cleaner energy. At the same time, residents' mortality rates from respiratory and mental diseases were declined. The choice of respiratory and mental disease mortality is based on existing research that suggests these two diseases are linked to household energy consumption ( 8 , 20 ). As a result of Figure 1 , it can be concluded that household clean energy consumption benefits residents' health. However, macro-statistics have limitations, which lack of information on household fuel use such as firewood, hay, cow dung, biogas, and solar energy. This problem can be addressed more effectively using micro-survey data. As a result, this paper examines the impact of household clean energy consumption on health using data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).

Per capita energy consumption and resident mortality from respiratory and mental diseases of China. Data source: China National Statistical Yearbook (2010–2020). In this paper, the units of different energy sources are uniformly converted into kilograms of standard coal according to the energy calorie conversion formula.

A relatively consistent conclusion in the existing literature is that long-term use of clean energy can improve residents' health. But most studies have only reached this conclusion based on data analysis ( 5 , 8 ), and few literature explored the internal mechanism of the impact of clean energy consumption on health based on theory ( 21 ). Meanwhile, some studies have used the Order Probit Model to analyze the relationship between energy consumption and health in empirical analysis, but few studies have dealt with potential endogenous problems ( 20 ). Furthermore, the current literature only discusses the impact of clean energy consumption on total health ( 9 , 14 ), and does not analyze whether or how clean energy consumption impacts common diseases.

In summary, this paper makes five marginal contributions to the literature. First, the 2018 CHARLS data is used as a sample in this paper to provide new micro-evidence for the study of clean energy consumption and health. CHARLS focuses on collecting health data from Chinese residents, and using this data as a sample to study the health problems of micro-subjects would be more reliable ( 22 ). Second, this paper introduces a new theoretical analysis concept, and health and energy economics theory can fully reveal the impact of clean energy consumption on health. Third, to address the existing endogeneity problem, this paper employs the instrumental variable method and the conditional mixed process estimation method, which increases the credibility of this paper. Fourth, this paper discusses the heterogeneity of the health effects of clean energy consumption across genders, household economic conditions, and religious beliefs, adding to the findings of previous research. Fifth, this paper examines the impact of clean energy consumption on eight different common diseases, offering a fresh perspective for future research on the subject.

The remaining sections include, Theoretical analysis (Section 2); Data and method (Section 3); Empirical analysis (Section 4); Mechanism analysis (Section 5); Further research (Section 6); Conclusion and policy recommendations (Section 7).

Theoretical analysis

Mushkin ( 23 ) identified health as a component of human capital and previously examined health issues from an economic standpoint. The classic paper by Arrow ( 24 ), “Uncertainty and Welfare Economics,” marked the establishment of health economics. Human capital theory and welfare economic theory have both become important theoretical foundations of health economics ( 25 ). Furthermore, Groosman ( 26 ) put forward the concept of health demand, believed that health can be regarded as an investment activity of people, and first proposed the health production function:

The H represents health; M indicates healthcare; LS shows lifestyle; E stands for environment; S signifies schooling; and X shows other factors that affect health.

Some research enhanced the HPF and examined the dynamic interactions between various factors and health, with household economic condition, human capital (schooling), environment, society, and lifestyle serving as common HPF vectors ( 27 , 28 ). Despite the fact that there have been few studies that incorporate energy (fuel) as a vector in the HPF, earlier research has demonstrated that household energy use is an important factor in health ( 29 ). Consequently, this study establishes the Household Health Production Function (HHPF) with energy consumption:

The H indicates health; EC shows household energy consumption; W represent welfare; HC stands for human capital; ES signifies the household economic status; EN represents environment; SC is social contact; and X shows other important factors (i.e., age, gender, and etc.).

Energy is a basic requirement for household production and daily life. Household energy consumption, according to energy economics theory, is a decision process that seeks to maximize utility ( 30 ). To meet their utility needs, most households use multiple types of energy at the same time ( 21 ). In general, households use four types of energy: first, all clean energy, second, all non-clean energy, third, a mixture of clean and non-clean energy with a greater proportion of clean energy than non-clean energy, and fourth a mixture of clean and non-clean energy with a smaller proportion of clean energy than non-clean energy. To achieve Pareto dynamic optimization of energy consumption, households dynamically adjust their energy mix in response to changes in utility pursuits.

It is assumed that households choose the first energy consumption mix, using clean energy sources in various activities such as cooking and heating. Then clean energy does not produce harmful substances during the combustion process and does not pollute the indoor air, thus not harming health. At the same time, clean energy is more efficient than non-clean energy, saving time for productive, social contact, and educational activities for households, potentially leading to higher household income, increased economic wellbeing, and the accumulation of social and human capital, which in turn contributes to better health. Further, it is assumed that the household chooses the second energy consumption mix. Substances such as carbon monoxide generated during the combustion of non-clean energy will directly damage human health through the respiratory system. Meanwhile, the use of non-clean energy will also cause problems such as air pollution and environmental damage, which indirectly affect health.

In addition, it is assumed that household A chooses the third energy consumption mix and household B chooses the fourth energy consumption mix. Non-clean energy sources will then have a negative impact on the health of both families. However, because the proportion and frequency with which household A uses clean energy is greater than that of household B , household A's health level will be greater than that of household B . In summary, household energy use is included as a vector in the health production function in this paper. The analysis revealed that if households rely on non-clean energy excessively, they not only have a direct negative impact on health but also damage it indirectly through other pathways (e.g., air pollution, decreased wellbeing, etc.), whereas household clean energy consumption benefits residents' health.

Figure 2 shows the theoretical analysis process of the impact of household clean energy consumption on health.

The theoretical mechanism of household clean energy consumption affecting health. Source: The author draws according to the content.

Data and method

The sample for this study is the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data, which is published in September 2020. CHARLS is a longitudinal study that began in 2011 and provides definitive information on the health and aging of Chinese families ( 31 ). The 2018 questionnaire covers: demographic backgrounds; family information; health status and function; cognition and depression; informant information; health care and insurance; work and retirement; pension; income, expenditure, and assets; house property, and housing characteristics. The CHARLS covered 28 provinces of China, 150 countries/districts, and 450 villages/urban communities, which are representative at a national level. This paper first matches the data of each module according to the respondent ID; Then extract the data for variables related to this study from the data set; Next, the missing values of variables are processed by means of mean filling, median filling, and deletion, and the data is standardized by the Z-score method; Finally, 11,635 sample data were obtained for empirical analysis.

Explained variable

Health. In the current literature on health issues from the perspective of microeconomics, “health self-assessment” is often used as a proxy variable for “health” ( 32 ). Because “health self-assessment” can reflect both the physical and mental health of micro-subjects to a certain extent ( 20 ). Therefore, we use residents' subjective health evaluation perceptions as a proxy variable for health, and the data of the survey question “What do you think about your health?” was chosen to measure resident's health.

Explanatory variable

Clean Energy Consumption (CEC). “Whether to use clean energy,” “the percentage of clean energy usage,” and “the frequency of clean energy usage” are three commonly used indicators to measure clean energy consumption ( 33 ). However, we cannot obtain data from CHARLS to calculate “the percentage of clean energy usage” and “the frequency of clean energy usage.” Therefore, according to the options in the questionnaire “what is the main source of cooking fuel?” this paper set to CEC = 1 if the respondent chooses clean energy (natural-gas, marsh-gas, LPG, or electricity) and CEC =0 if the respondent chooses non-clean energy (coal, crop-residue, or wood-burning).

Control variables

The individual characteristics, family economic status, and daily life situation of micro-subjects may all have an impact on their health ( 18 ). In empirical analysis, these factors are usually added to the model as control variables, so as to improve the accuracy of the regression results of the core explanatory variables and the explained variables. Therefore, this paper selects age, education level, income, and housing structure, etc. as the explained variables ( 34 ).

Table 1 presents the main variables of this paper.

Variables selection and definition.

In this paper, the mean, standard deviation, and maximum and minimum values of the main variables were calculated using Stata v15.0 software, and the calculation results are reported in Table 2 . The mean of health is 3.13, indicating that residents are in good health, but still about 24% of respondents are unhealthy. There are 7,872 (67.66%) households using clean energy, and another 1/3 of the households are still using non-clean energy. Most of the respondents were middle-aged (mean age = 50.26), with a total of 6,965 (59.86%) residents between the ages of 41 and 60. The mean of education is 2.23, indicating that most of the residents have a low level of school education, and only 2.01% of the residents have received university education. 178 (1.53%) residents were not yet married, and among the 11,457 residents who were married, 17.82% were in an abnormal state of marriage (widowed, divorced, and separated). The income of the interviewed families was greater than the expenditure, and the gap between household income and expenditure was large, but most of the families were debt free. About 4/5 of the surveyed households purchased public health insurance. 69.15% of the household housing structure is concrete, steel, bricks, and wood. 6,598 (56.71%) of the surveyed households lived in rural areas. From 2013 to 2018, 25.10% of the surveyed households were identified as poor households by the Chinese government. More than half (55.95%) of the respondents were male. Most (72.51%) respondents do not believe in religion. About 10% of respondents are dissatisfied with their current life. Air quality has been significantly improved, and 85.80% of the respondents are satisfied with the current air quality.

Descriptive statistics of the studied variables.

Econometric model

As “Health” is an ordered multi-category variable, valid estimates may not be obtained if OLS and bivariate Probit models are used. The ordered probit (O-probit) model can meet the requirements of the data structure ( 5 ), and Greene et al. ( 35 ) uses the ordered probit model to explore the question of health in Australia. Therefore, the main model in this paper is:

The H e a l t h i * is the latent variable for health; i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 denotes five self-evaluations of health; ω n is the intercept term, β n and φ n are regression coefficients; CEC is clean energy consumption. CV r is the control variables. μ k denotes the error term.

To examine the mediating and moderating effects of clean energy consumption and health, this paper refers to Wen et al. ( 36 ) approach and set up a mediating effects model as:

Where MV is the mediating variable, and ρ is the regression coefficient of the mediating variable. If β n ,β 1 ,β 2 and ρ are all significant, it means that MV has a mediating effect on CEC and H e a l t h i * .

Empirical analysis and discussion

Basic regression.

We consider that if there is a multi-collinearity issue among variables, it will lead to serious deviations in the regression results. Therefore, the multi-collinearity test was carried out in this study before the regression. The variance inflation factor (VIF) is a common indicator to measure multi-collinearity. The VIF of this paper is 5.63 <10, which means that there is no multi-collinearity issue between the variables selected in this paper ( 37 ).

The results from models (1) show that clean energy consumption is significantly and positively associated with health, indicating that the use of clean energy by households can improve the health of residents ( 38 ). The trend in the average marginal effect values in the results of model (2) shows that the use of clean energy can gradually improve the health of the residents.

Age is negatively correlated with health under the significance standard of 0.01. With the increase of age, the functions of human organs and the immune system decline, and they are prone to diseases ( 39 ). Furthermore, at the 0.01 level of significance, education is positively associated with health, as higher education is associated with higher returns on educational investment, better jobs, income levels, and a greater ability to prevent and treat disease ( 40 ). Likewise, this study also revealed a significant positive correlation between income and health. The greater the willingness and ability of residents to invest in health, the greater their willingness and ability ( 41 ). Expenditure is significantly and negatively correlated with health, as the more items and amounts a household spends, the less it must spend on savings and investments, the less it is able to invest in health and fight disease, and the more it is vulnerable to health risks ( 42 ). In addition, medical insurance is significantly and positively correlated with health, and medical insurance has the function of defusing and hedging health risk ( 43 ). Building structure is positively correlated with health, firstly because a safer housing structure indicates a higher level of household income and the ability to cope with disease crises ( 44 ), and secondly because households with a safe housing structure can withstand the risks to human health caused by climatic disasters and environmental degradation ( 45 ).

As shown in Table 3 , marriage is not related to health, which is different from the conclusions of some current studies ( 46 ). It is observed that the regression coefficient of marriage is 0.014 > 0, indicating that marriage will have a positive effect on health ( 47 ). Debt is not related to health, which is different from the conclusions of Clayton et al. ( 48 ) and Andelic and Feeney ( 49 ), which may be related to the sample data in this paper and the debt structure of Chinese residents.

The regression results of CEC and health.

Robust standard errors in parentheses

Robustness test

This paper uses three approaches for robustness tests, and the results of the robustness tests are reported in Table 4 . First, replace the O-probit model with an ordered logit (O-logit) model (Model 1). Second, the sample size was reduced: the life expectancy per capita in China was 77 years in 2018 ( 50 ). Because CHARLS primarily collected health data from people aged 45 and up, samples younger than 45 and older than 77 years were excluded and then regressed (Model 2). Third, the 2018 CHARLS sample set was replaced by the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and the 2018 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). CFPS is a nationwide, comprehensive social tracking survey designed to reflect social, economic, demographic, educational, and health changes in China by tracking and collecting data at the individual, household, and community levels ( 51 ). CGSS is the earliest national, comprehensive, and continuous academic survey project in China that systematically and comprehensively collects data at multiple levels of society, communities, households, and individuals ( 52 ). We extract data from CFPS and CGSS for the same metrics as in this paper; define and calculate “Health,” “CEC,” and control variables in the same way as in this paper; and use the same model (O-probit) to analyze the relationship between clean energy consumption and residents' health (Model 3 and 4).

The results of robustness test of CEC and health.

As it can be seen in Table 4 , clean energy consumption was significantly positively associated with health after robustness tests using three different approaches. The robustness test results support the findings of the basic regression, indicating that the analysis results in this paper are reliable, that is, the long-term use of clean energy in households can significantly improve the health of residents.

Endogenous discussion and treatment

We cannot add all the factors that affect residents' health as control variables to the model for regression, and there may be errors between residents' self-health evaluation and their real health status. This paper may have endogenous issues caused by “missing variables” and “self-selection bias,” resulting in errors in regression coefficients. In this paper, “respondent's residential district (District, 1 = rural, 2 = urban-rural combination, 3 = urban)” was selected as the instrumental variable (IV), and the Iv-O-probit models were used to deal with possible endogenous issues. IV must meet two basic requirements: first is correlation (IV are related to endogenous variables); and second is exclusivity (IV are not related to control variables, explained variables, and error terms). “District” meets the correlation requirements since households living in different districts have different energy consumption due to differences in energy resource endowments ( 53 , 54 ), thus “District” is related to “CEC.” Some literature believes that rural residents are healthier than urban residents, because of rural residents have a green lifestyle ( 55 ). Other studies have found that the health level of urban residents is higher than that of rural residents ( 56 ), which may be because cities have more convenient medical resources so as to get more health care. This means that there is no strict causal relationship between “District” and “Health” ( 57 ). Therefore, “District” conforms to exclusivity, and it is reasonable to use “District” as an IV in this paper.

The explained variable health in this paper is an ordered multi-category variable, and it is still technically difficult to directly use the IV in combination with O-probit. Therefore, in this paper, we refer to Roodman ( 58 ) and use a combination of instrumental variables approach and conditional mixed process (CMP) estimation to deal with the endogenous of the O-probit model. Table 5 reports the results of the Iv-O-probit model for the endogenous problem.

The results of endogenous treatment of CEC and health with CMP estimation method.

In Table 5 , the results of models (1) and (2) show that the IV (District) is significantly correlated with the explanatory variable “CEC” and not with the explanatory variable “Health,” which statistically meets the requirements of IV. The auxiliary estimation parameter atanhrho_12 is significantly different from 0 ( P = 0), indicating that there is a significant correlation between the two equations in the joint cubic equation model and that adopting the CMP estimation method is more effective than estimating them separately, also demonstrating that “CEC” is an endogenous variable. The results of model (3) indicate that “CEC” is significantly and positively associated with “Health” after instrumental variables approach with CMP estimation. Compared to the basic regression, the coefficient of 0.072 > 0.054 and the increased average marginal effect value at each cut-off point indicate that the positive health effects of clean energy consumption are underestimated in the base regression. The first stage F-statistic value of 242.4 is greater than the experiential value of 10, indicating that there is no weak instrumental variable problem.

Heterogeneity analysis

In China, women carry out more work within the home than men, and use energy more frequently than men. Twumasi et al. ( 5 ) found that the risks to women's health from using non-clean energy were more significant. The results of model (1) in Table 6 show that clean energy consumption is positively associated with men's and women's health at the 0.05 level of significance, and the regression coefficient (0.071 > 0.039) shows that household clean energy consumption has a stronger effect on improving women's health.

The results of heterogeneity analysis of CEC and health.

The economic status of the household is directly influenced by energy choices. According to the poverty theory of development economics, economically poor households are also more likely to be energy poverty and have a higher reliance on non-clean energy sources ( 33 ). The results of model (2) in Table 6 show that clean energy consumption is positively associated with health regardless of whether the household is in poverty or not, but the coefficient values show that clean energy consumption has a more obvious effect on improving the health of poor households.

Religious households regularly incur expenditure on religious activities, have less money to spend on clean energy, and are more likely to use non-clean energy. Simultaneously, some religious teachings may discourage residents from utilizing clean energy ( 59 ). The results of model (3) in Table 6 show that clean energy consumption is positively associated with the health of residents who are not religious and not associated with the health of residents who are religious.

Mechanism analysis: Mediating effect test

The use of clean energy in the home increases the life satisfaction (happiness) of residents ( 60 , 61 ). Residents with high life satisfaction are more concerned about health and less likely to suffer from mental illness. The results of models (1), (2), and (3) in Table 7 show that clean energy consumption increases resident happiness at a significance criterion of 0.01 and is thus significantly and positively associated with residents' health. The corresponding p- values of the Soble and Bootstrap tests are both <0.05, indicating that happiness plays a partial mediating role in clean energy consumption impact on health.

The results of mediating effect of CEC, happiness and AQ on health.

Household use of non-clean energy pollutes the air and reduces indoor air quality (AQ) ( 62 ). Harmful products of energy combustion enter the body through human respiration, causing harm to the health of residents. This paper uses residents' subjective evaluation of air quality as a proxy variable for air quality and conducts a mediating effects analysis. The results of models (1), (4), and (5) in Table 7 show that the long-term use of clean energy significantly enhances air quality and thus improves the health of the residents. The p -values for the corresponding Soble and Bootstrap tests were <0.05, indicating that air quality plays a partially mediating role in clean energy consumption and health.

Further research: Nexus between CEC and eight different common diseases

Chronic diseases have become a global health concern. Obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, stroke, asthma, osteoporosis, and kidney disease are the main chronic diseases with increasing diagnosis and mortality rates in the world ( 3 ). Deaths from chronic diseases accounted for 88.5% of deaths in China in 2019, with 80.7% of deaths from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases ( 50 ). Households that used non-clean energy sources were more likely to develop diseases such as cardiovascular disease and asthma ( 63 ). Therefore, this paper further discusses the impact of clean energy consumption on common chronic diseases.

It can be seen from Table 8 , the results of model (1) show that clean energy consumption significantly reduces the prevalence of hypertension; the results of model (2) illustrate that clean energy consumption is negatively associated with hyperlipidemia at the 0.01 level of significance; the results of model (5) indicate that the long-term use of clean energy significantly suppresses the prevalence of lung disease; and the results of model (7) demonstrate that clean energy use is significantly negatively associated with asthma. The result of models (3), (4), and (6) indicated that the use of clean energy was negatively associated with diabetes, cancer, and stroke, respectively.

The regression results of CEC and eight different common diseases.

In recent years, depression has become a serious health issue that has plagued society ( 64 ). Long-term use of non-clean energy can lead to psychological and mental illness ( 19 ). This paper refers to Zhang et al. ( 65 ) and select data from seven research questions and take the factor analysis method to measure the depression index as a proxy variable for depression. The seven questions including: (1) I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing; (2) I felt depressed; (3) I felt everything I did was an effort; (4) I felt hopeful about the future; (5) I felt fearful; (6) I was happy; (7) I felt lonely.” The answer to each question is “ 1 = rarely or none of the time, 2 = some or a little of the time, 3 = occasionally or a moderate amount of the time, 4 = most or all of the time.” In Table 8 , the results of model (8) show that the use of clean energy significantly reduces the probability of diagnosed depression among residents.

Conclusion and policy recommendations

Conclusions.

Recently, both developing and developed countries around the world have committed to using cleaner energy and addressing health issues. Based on health economics and energy economics theory, this paper first examines the impact mechanism of household energy consumption on residents' health. The data from the 2018 CHARLS is used as a sample in an econometric model to investigate whether and how clean energy consumption affects residents' health. This study discovered that long-term use of clean energy can significantly improve residents' health. Simultaneously, household clean energy consumption has a greater impact on the health of women, low-income households, and non-religious residents. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis revealed that subjective happiness and air quality play a partial role in mediating the impact of energy consumption on residents' health. Furthermore, long-term use of clean energy reduced the incidence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, lung disease, asthma, and depression.

Using both theoretical and empirical analyses, this paper verifies the positive impact of clean energy consumption on health, similar to the findings of Twumasi et al. ( 5 ), Liao et al. ( 7 ), and Wang et al. ( 16 ), etc., The contributions of this paper include: (1) using health economics and energy economics theories to analyze the underlying mechanisms of clean energy consumption affecting health; (2) not only analyzing whether clean energy consumption affects residents' health but also discussing how it affects health using mediating effect models; (3) not only analyzing the impact of clean energy consumption on overall health but also studying the relationship between clean energy and common chronic diseases and depression. Meanwhile, there are some limitations to this paper, such as the sample data is from China and the conclusions drawn may only be applicable to China or developing countries (regions) and are not of global relevance. Therefore, this paper provides ideas for further research: (1) Health economics and energy economics theories can be used to lay the groundwork for research on the impact of energy use on health; and (2) scholars can select data from different countries/regions (e.g., China and the United States, Europe and Africa, South Asia, and Western Europe, etc.) for repeated validation and comparative analysis.

Policy recommendations

This study makes three policy recommendations in light of the conclusions.

First , the government first utilizes macro policies to modify the market pricing of clean energy and non-clean energy, reduce the household consumption expenses of clean energy, and boost the consumption demand for clean energy, thereby encouraging households to use clean energy for an extended period of time.

Second , the government provides financial incentives to households in urban areas to upgrade their fuel-energy infrastructure and to hasten the development of clean-burning stoves for those living in rural areas (especially poor households). Financial subsidies will be given to households implementing clean energy facilities to improve their clean energy consumption abilities.

Third , community and rural management organizations play the role of social education, publicize the effect of clean energy consumption, and increase residents' willingness to use clean energy. At the same time, community and rural management organizations should carry out health education activities to raise the health awareness of residents (especially female residents).

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by FL and YD. The first draft of the manuscript was written by FL, YD, WL, DZ, and AC. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, contributed to the study conception and design, and read and approved the final manuscript.

This study was supported by the Youth Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (grant number 17CGL012) and the Key Project of Social Science Planning of Sichuan Province (grant number SC21A016).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

The authors' thanks to the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study for providing us with raw data.

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Article Contents

Introduction, 1 overview of green hydrogen production, 2 energy transition with green hydrogen, 3 the perspective of green hydrogen energy, 4 conclusions, acknowledgements, conflict of interest statement, data availability, green hydrogen energy production: current status and potential.

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Ali O M Maka, Mubbashar Mehmood, Green hydrogen energy production: current status and potential, Clean Energy , Volume 8, Issue 2, April 2024, Pages 1–7, https://doi.org/10.1093/ce/zkae012

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The technique of producing hydrogen by utilizing green and renewable energy sources is called green hydrogen production. Therefore, by implementing this technique, hydrogen will become a sustainable and clean energy source by lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. The key benefit of producing green hydrogen by utilizing green energy is that no harmful pollutants or greenhouse gases are directly released throughout the process. Hence, to guarantee all of the environmental advantages, it is crucial to consider the entire hydrogen supply chain, involving storage, transportation and end users. Hydrogen is a promising clean energy source and targets plan pathways towards decarbonization and net-zero emissions by 2050. This paper has highlighted the techniques for generating green hydrogen that are needed for a clean environment and sustainable energy solutions. Moreover, it summarizes an overview, outlook and energy transient of green hydrogen production. Consequently, its perspective provides new insights and research directions in order to accelerate the development and identify the potential of green hydrogen production.

Nowadays, the technology of renewable-energy-powered green hydrogen production is one method that is increasingly being regarded as an approach to lower emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and environmental pollution in the transition towards worldwide decarbonization [ 1 , 2 ]. However, there is a societal realization that fossil fuels are not zero-carbon, which leads to significant thinking about alternative solutions.

The global energy system ought to drastically change from one mostly reliant on fossil fuels to one that is effective and sustainable with low carbon emissions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Accordingly, >90% is the required global CO 2 emission decrease and the projected direct contribution of renewable energy to the necessary emission decrease is 41% [ 3 , 4 ]. Hydrogen (H 2 ) is a cost-effective, environmentally friendly alternative for energy consumption/storage [ 5 , 6 ]. In addition, it can contribute to making a low-carbon society a reality and largely boost the share of hydrogen [ 7 ].

Hydrogen technologies have been considered an approach to strengthening various economic sectors since the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential of hydrogen is currently the subject of an important consensus, partly due to an increased ambitious climate policy [ 8 , 9 ]. In addition, hydrogen can be used in fuel cell technology in the power generation sector and many other sectors, such as industry, transport and residential applications, which reflects its potential for decarbonization [ 10–12 ].

Several initiatives and projects worldwide are rapidly rising, reflecting the outstanding political and commercial momentum that the development of hydrogen as a zero-carbon fuel is undergoing. The growing boost is caused by the decreasing cost of hydrogen produced by renewable energy sources, or ‘green hydrogen’, and the urgent need to reduce GHG emissions [ 3 , 13 ]. However, green hydrogen is expected to increase in prominence over the next few decades and attain high commercial viability [ 13 , 14 ]. Producing hydrogen can be done using coal, methane, bioenergy and even solar energy; however, green hydrogen production is one of the pathways [ 15 , 16 ].

Numerous countries consider hydrogen the next-generation energy management response, and they increasingly support adopting hydrogen technology intended to create a decarbonized economy. Therefore, many strategies and plans for developing and implementing hydrogen have been made [ 17 ].

By 2050, according to Anouti et al. [ 18 ], there could be 530 million tonnes (Mt) of demand globally for green hydrogen, or hydrogen produced with fewer carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently, it would displace ~10.4 billion barrels of oil, which is equivalent to ~37% of the pre-pandemic world oil production [ 18 , 19 ]. Based on its forecast, the worldwide market for green hydrogen exports may be worth $300 billion annually by 2050, creating ~400 000 jobs in the hydrogen and renewable-energy industries [ 18 ].

Based on the technique used to produce hydrogen, the energy source used and its effects on the environment, hydrogen is categorized into various colour shades, including blue, grey, brown, black and green [ 20 ]. Using the steam-reforming/auto-thermal reforming method, grey hydrogen is extracted from natural gas but CO 2 is emitted into the atmosphere as a by-product. When the steam-reforming method converts natural gas into hydrogen and the CO 2 emissions from the process are captured, this is known as blue hydrogen. The most prevalent type of hydrogen used today is brown hydrogen, mainly produced via the gasification of hydrocarbon-rich fuel, in which CO 2 is released into the atmosphere as a by-product. However, green hydrogen is produced by water electrolysis, which is powered by renewable energy resources [ 18 , 21 , 22 ].

Green hydrogen is already competitive in regions with all the appropriate conditions [ 15 ] and will play a significant role in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) for the UN 2030, based on the agenda for sustainable development adopted wholly by UN Member States. The specified section of SDG 7 depends on ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’ [ 23 , 24 ]. For this reason, many efforts have been made to attain this goal globally in recent years.

Therefore, continuing on from those issues mentioned above in the introduction, in this paper, we analyse green hydrogen production technologies and investigate several aspects of the significance of the growth of the green hydrogen economy (GEE). The key objective of this study is to highlight the potential and progress of green hydrogen production and its significance in meeting energy needs. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 summarizes the introduction, Section 2 presents an analysis of the energy transition with green hydrogen, Section 3 details a general overview of green hydrogen production, Section 4 specifics the perspective of green hydrogen energy production and Section 5 summarizes the conclusions and recommendations for future work.

There are several uses for hydrogen, including energy storage, power generation, industrial production and fuel for fuel cell vehicles. Hence, hydrogen production from green energy sources is essential to meet sustainable energy targets (SETs) as the globe attempts to move to a low-carbon economy.

Green hydrogen production requires large amounts of renewable energy and water resources. Thus, areas with an abundance of renewable energy resources, as well as accessibility to water sources, have been determined to be optimal for producing huge amounts of green hydrogen. However, to allow green hydrogen to be more economically viable than fossil fuels, advances in technology and cost reductions must be made.

In order to achieve the target for the expansion of green hydrogen production and utilization, details ought to be established at the level of the authorities. They can facilitate adoption, on the one hand, by increasing manufacturing capacity and guaranteeing an ongoing renewable energy source and, on the other, by increasing the need for green hydrogen alongside its derivatives and developing a system for storing and transporting hydrogen [ 25 ].

This paper performed a literature review to screen >100 papers related to Google Scholar/Web of Science to consider precisely green energy production by filtering the information in a large number of literature papers in science databases. Figs 1 and 2 illustrate the visualized literature network diagrams; hence, searching for keywords in science databases maps the intensity of relations/strengths among items. The analysis, which determined the research relationships of networks for visualization and exploration, utilized the VOSviewer. The categorical evaluation relies on the occurrence and frequency of keywords in related publications. The red cluster (lower left) represents initial development words trend links, the blue cluster (upper center) represents the second stage of development and the green cluster (lower right) links the green hydrogen words. Fig. 1 displays and signifies the mapping of the intensity of relations among words. In recent years, more research has focused on developing green hydrogen production from 2016 to 2023. Fig. 2 elucidates the keywords of scientific mapping and field trends. The blue cluster (lower left) represents the trend of research development from 2016 to 2019 and the bright maroon cluster (upper right) represents the trend of research development from 2020 to 2023.

Characterizes scientific mapping and relations between words

Characterizes keywords of scientific mapping and developing field trends from 2016 to 2023

The technology of green hydrogen can play a vital role in energy storage. Electrolysis can be utilized for producing hydrogen by using a surplus of renewable energy produced when demand is low. Whenever required, hydrogen can be used directly in various applications or stored and subsequently turned back into power using fuel cells. Hydrogen can be stored in different ways, either in the form of liquid, gaseous fuel or solid state; thus, the storage method is determined based on the consumption approach or export. In addition to resources such as solar and wind, this makes it possible to integrate renewable energy into the grid. This may lower the overall cost of the hydrogen yield.

Long-haul transportation, chemicals, and iron and steel are only a few industries that can benefit from the decarbonization of clean hydrogen produced using renewables, fossil fuels, nuclear energy or carbon capture. These industries have had difficulty in reducing their emissions. Vehicles fuelled by hydrogen would enhance the security of energy and the quality of air. Although it is one of the few alternative energy sources that can store energy for days, weeks or months, hydrogen can facilitate the incorporation of various renewable energies into the electrical grid.

Hydrogen storage technology, either underground or surface storage, gives more effectiveness and is more reliable to utilize; also, storage on a large scale has advantages in terms of energy demand and flexibility of the energy system [ 26 ]. The important consideration of storing hydrogen efficiently and safely is vital for many applications, such as industrial processes and transportation.

The transition towards green hydrogen will create new job opportunities in several sectors, including manufacturing, fuel cells, infrastructure, and operation and maintenance of electrolysers. Moreover, the development of the green hydrogen sector has the potential to promote economic growth, produce income through exports, bring in investments and drive scientific breakthroughs in the field.

Green hydrogen technological progress is the focus of ongoing studies and developments. Hence, this encompasses enhancing the effectiveness of electrolysis procedures, making affordable fuel cells, investigating cutting-edge materials for hydrogen storage and raising the overall efficacy of hydrogen systems. The range of applications for green hydrogen will grow due to technological improvements that will lower costs, boost effectiveness and expand their usage. State-of-the-art electrolyser devices and their development are based on decreasing the cost of manufacturing, enhancing efficiency and increasing the role played by electrolysis in the global hydrogen economy.

However, before worldwide commerce in hydrogen becomes a feasible, affordable option on a large scale, numerous milestones must be accomplished. The key is a techno–economic analysis used to investigate the circumstances required for such a trade to be profitable. The scenarios are for predicting the hydrogen trade outlook towards 2050 in which hydrogen production and costs of transportation are accessible. The trade of hydrogen is expected to develop in local markets to a great extent.

Based on a global plan through a ‘pathway toward decarbonization and net-zero emissions via 2050’ in the 1.5°C scenario, ~55% of the hydrogen traded globally by 2050 will be transported through a pipeline. The vast majority of the hydrogen network would rely on already-built natural gas pipelines that can be converted to transport pure hydrogen, greatly lowering the cost of transportation [ 27 , 28 ]. Hence, if we examine the economic and technological production capability of green hydrogen globally over various scenarios, we can evaluate the prognosis for the global hydrogen trade in 2030 and 2050 [ 27 ].

Progress and optimization of the hydrogen supply chain are important for comprehending the potential of hydrogen as a sustainable and clean energy carrier. Moreover, socio-economic aspects through providing a labour market can extend to the supply chain by deploying/installing renewable-energy devices. Thus, as technology and infrastructure continue to develop, the hydrogen supply chain is anticipated to play a substantial role in the shift to a low-carbon energy system.

Further outlook of green hydrogen to extend knowledge to include outreach approaches incorporating hydrogen-related topics into the curriculum might include online sources, community workshops and collaborations with educational institutions.

Accordingly, many factors have led numerous countries to endorse adopting green hydrogen technology projects. These aim to create a decarbonized economy and reduce GHG emissions, considering hydrogen as an alternative for sustainable energy management. Table 1 summarizes the breakdown of recently announced ongoing investment projects in green hydrogen production.

List of large green hydrogen planned/ongoing projects

Achieving the 1.5°C scenario includes a commercially viable form of large-scale production of hydrogen and commerce. The electricity needed for the production of hydrogen should be adequate and not take away from the electricity needed for other vital and more productive purposes. Thus, this leads to increased scale and acceleration of renewable-energy development at the core of the transition to green hydrogen.

Green hydrogen has the potential to play a crucial role in the development of a cleaner and more sustainable energy future as costs decrease, technology improves and supportive policies are put in place [ 34 ]. Fig. 3 depicts a potential pathway for producing hydrogen from green energy resources. An environmentally friendly renewable-energy supply, so-called biogas, is produced whenever organic matter, including food scraps and animal waste, breaks down. The biomass gasification of organic materials or agricultural waste can be gasified in a controlled environment to harvest a mixture of hydrogen. The biogas produced may be used to generate energy, heat houses and fuel motor vehicles.

Potential pathway for producing hydrogen from green energy

Electrolysis is a procedure that uses electrolysers to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, utilizing electricity produced by renewable sources such as solar technology, including photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP), wind or hydropower. The hydrogen produced can then be used for numerous purposes, such as fuel cells or industrial processes, or it can be stored. The basic production of hydrogen via electrolysis using electricity to split molecules in water into hydrogen and oxygen is given by:

It is important to mention that another method—the so-called photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production technique—depends on the use of solar radiation to drive the water-splitting process directly; PEC cells transform solar energy into hydrogen [ 35 , 36 ]. Although this technology is still in its infancy, it indicates promise for producing hydrogen sustainably and effectively [ 35 ].

Owing to their capability for photosynthetic oxygen production, algae have been recommended as a potential resource for the production of green hydrogen. Some types of algae can also produce ‘hydrogen gas as a by-product of their metabolism’ under certain conditions. Green hydrogen production from algae is based on the biohydrogen production technique, which is a subject of interest and ongoing study [ 37 , 38 ]; however, it is not commonly used in industrial practice yet [ 39–41 ].

Electrolysers ought to function at a higher usage rate to reduce the expenses of producing hydrogen, although this is incompatible with the curtailed supply of restricted energy [ 42 ]. Several research publications suggested the idea of using direct seawater electrolysis to produce hydrogen and oxygen [ 43–45 ].

The shift towards clean energy using green hydrogen necessitates collaboration among industries, governments, communities and research institutions. It offers a chance to increase sustainable growth, diversify sources of energy and decrease emissions of GHGs [ 14 ]. Table 2 details the world’s green hydrogen production capacity (in EJ) and potential by region distributed on continents. The top high potential was in sub-Saharan Africa, at ~28.6%, followed by the Middle East and North Africa, at ~21.3%. Then, the following other regions across the continent are listed.

Breakdown of the potential of global green hydrogen production by region [ 46 ]

Green hydrogen, from an economic perspective, represents a large economic opportunity. It includes the potential to promote the growth of new industries, the creation of employment opportunities and economic expansion. Thus, countries with abundant renewable energy resources can use green hydrogen generation to export energy, diversify their economy and lower their dependency on fossil fuels.

The production of hydrogen can assist in reducing curtailed systems that use a significant amount of variable energy from renewable sources [ 42 ]. Herein, green hydrogen is considered a technological development catalyst from a technical development perspective. Technology advances in the field are anticipated to result from research and development initiatives to increase electrolysis efficiency, lower costs and create improved materials and methods. This perspective highlights the innovative potential and development of green hydrogen technology.

Moreover, green hydrogen is considered an essential catalyst of the energy shift from the perspective of that transition. Subsequently, clean energy sources such as wind and solar power provide a method of integrating and balancing energy from renewable sources. Green hydrogen may increase the shares of clean energy sources in the energy system by offering grid flexibility and long-term energy storage.

It is clear that the movement towards the global transition is accelerating based on the energy transition policies and carbon-neutrality targets of different nations [ 47 ]. The investments in green hydrogen projects are progressing and taking place globally, including the USA, Germany, Austria, Saudi Arabia and China, to name a few. These countries have taken a step forward towards implementing large-scale projects of green hydrogen [ 15 , 42 ].

Energy from hydrogen can be utilized in numerous fields encompassing industry, electricity, construction, transportation, etc. [ 47 ]. Fig. 4 elucidates the schematic flow of perspectives on green hydrogen production. The demand for green hydrogen has recently evolved since more recent sources have become the latest insights on its current status and projections. The need for green hydrogen is anticipated to increase over the coming years as green technologies develop and the urgency to battle climate change grows. The demand is also needed for environmental aspects of climate change mitigation, decarbonization, technological developments and policy support.

Green hydrogen production perspectives

A study reported that hydrogen has a significant potential role in supporting the globe in meeting decarbonization goals/net-zero emissions by 2050 and limiting the global warming phenomenon to 1.5°C because it can reduce ~80 GT (gigatonnes) of CO 2 emissions by 2050 [ 48 ].

The potential of green hydrogen relies on geographic location and abundant natural resources. Hence, water, solar energy, wind and hydro-energy and organic materials are available. The development in infrastructure enables the widespread implementation of green hydrogen and important infrastructure progress is required. It comprises establishing hydrogen refuelling and building electrolysis plants, storage systems, etc.

Furthermore, investment projects would be viable in desert areas, where large projects might be constructed using solar PV and CSP to generate electricity. Subsequently, electricity can be used to produce enough hydrogen for the local market and export the surplus. Hence, these will help economic development in countries with great potential for solar radiation intensity over the years.

The economies of scale enabled via a developing global market for clean energy sources and green hydrogen will continue to drive down overall expenses [ 29 ]. However, the most economical way to use green financing will be to focus on helping the initial phases of the expansion of green hydrogen generation during a period when the investment takes place [ 49 ]. The investment cost is the main aspect to be considered while designing a hydrogen plant. Therefore, a core desired feature is low-levelized energy costs from renewable energy resources and electrolysers. These will make the project more feasible, efficient and cheap for the production of green hydrogen. The environmental impact of green hydrogen production is a key tool for attaining global climate goals—the potential to guarantee a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future for our planet.

This paper summarizes the outline of green hydrogen, its contribution and its potential towards net-zero emissions. Hence, its viewpoint provides new insights to accelerate the expansion of green hydrogen production projects. In order to accelerate the implementation of green hydrogen, scholars, industries and governments worldwide will contribute to the research and development of the technology. It is considered a feasible option for lowering emissions of GHGs, encouraging energy independence and helping in shifting to a low-carbon, environmentally friendly energy system.

There has been development of hydrogen technology that has significantly progressed to meet energy needs. Therefore, green hydrogen yield, which depends on renewable energy resources, has recently become a more attractive option due to decreased expenditure. Thus, it has the potential to mitigate environmental issues, promote economic expansion and contribute to the transition of the entire world to sustainable and clean energy systems. To adequately realize the potential of green hydrogen, challenges, including lower expenses, development of infrastructure and industrial scale, remain important factors.

A worldwide market for green hydrogen could emerge, enabling assignees with abundant renewable resources to export surplus electricity in the form of hydrogen. Therefore, this could assist countries in switching to a more sustainable energy mix and decrease their dependence on fossil fuel imports. Future work includes developing/deep analysis of a cost-effective, high-efficiency electrolyser device that will decrease the overall cost of green hydrogen yield.

Many grateful thanks go to the Libyan Authority for Research Science and Technology, and many thanks go to the staff in the Libyan Centre for Research and Development of Saharian Communities. Also, thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments in improving this paper.

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data sharing does not apply to this perspective paper, as no new data sets were created during this research.

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• Published: 17 February 2020

Bringing rigour to energy innovation policy evaluation

• Jacquelyn Pless   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4960-1443 1 , 2 ,
• Cameron Hepburn   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0467-7441 2 , 3 , 4 &
• Niall Farrell 5 , 6  

Nature Energy volume  5 ,  pages 284–290 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Clean energy innovation is pivotal for low-cost energy sector decarbonization. Substantial public research and development funding is spent on energy innovation. Generating more evidence on which support mechanisms most effectively drive clean energy innovations, and why, could improve their design moving forward. In this Perspective, we discuss five challenges that researchers often face when attempting to rigorously evaluate energy innovation policies and public subsidy programmes. We recommend solutions, such as developing new innovation outcome metrics that consider unique features of the energy sector and building databases that cover long time periods. We also suggest that researchers and funding agencies work together to implement randomized control trials or conduct quasi-experimental evaluation of existing programmes and policies wherever possible.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to D. Popp and J. Rhys for comments on an early version of this Perspective. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Oxford Martin Programme on Integrating Renewable Energy at the Oxford Martin School for financial support. N.F. also acknowledges funding through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 743582.

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Pless, J., Hepburn, C. & Farrell, N. Bringing rigour to energy innovation policy evaluation. Nat Energy 5 , 284–290 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0557-1

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Rent this article via DeepDyve Institutional subscriptions Similar content being viewed by others A comparison of diversity and species composition of ground beetles (coleoptera: carabidae) between conifer plantations and regenerating forests in korea. Communities of phyllophagous insects in young birch greeneries of northern cities Dung beetle communities of altitudinal Atlantic forest remnants: diversity and composition Danilevskii, M.L. and Miroshnikov, A.I., Zhuki-usachi Kavkaza (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) (Capricorn Beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) of the Caucasus), Krasnodar: Izd. Kubansk. S.-Kh. Inst., 1985. Google Scholar   Gamayunova, S.G. and Novak, L.V., On the problem of colonization of dead wood of English oak with xylophages, Lisivnitstvo Agrolisomelioratsiya (Kharkiv) , 2009, vol. 115, pp. 261–267. Kalyuzhnaya, N.S., Komarov, E.V., and Cherezova, L.B., Zhestkokrylye nasekomye Nizhnego Povolzh’ya (Coleoptera of the Lower Volga Region), Volgograd: Region. 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Zolotukhin, A.I., Ovcharenko, A.A., Zanina, M.A., and Shapovalova, A.A., Ecological and cenotic characteristics and dynamics of floodplain oak forests of the Cis-Khoper region, Povolzh. Ekol. Zh. , 2011, no. 3, pp. 314–322. Download references Author information Authors and affiliations. Saratov State Technical University, ul. Politekhnicheskaya 77, Saratov, 410054, Russia V. P. Gorshkova Balashov Institute, Chernyshevskii Saratov State University, ul. K. Marksa 29, Balashev, Saratov oblast, 412300, Russia A. N. Volodchenko You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to V. P. Gorshkova . Additional information Original Russian Text © V.P. Gorshkova, A.N. Volodchenko, 2015, published in Povolzhskii Ekologicheskii Zhurnal, 2015, No. 4, pp. 381–389. Rights and permissions Reprints and permissions About this article Gorshkova, V.P., Volodchenko, A.N. The specific assemblage structure of longhorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) in floodplain forests of the western part of Saratov oblast. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 43 , 1416–1421 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359016100058 Download citation Received : 24 February 2015 Published : 28 March 2017 Issue Date : December 2016 DOI : https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359016100058 Share this article Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. 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