Energy sector in India: Challenges and solutions

Energy plays a vital role in the socio-economic development and human welfare of a country. It is indeed a difficult task to meet the ever increasing demand with minimum environmental risks. Population explosion and economic growth are the two major facts that drives the energy demands. The economic growth rate of India has hit the decade low of 5% in 2012–13, which shows the challenges yet to come. India being a fast developing nation with second largest population in the world, faces a significant challenge to meet the desired economic growth rate and to provide adequate access to affordable and clean energy for a large population. With the growing concern about India's population, energy demands and climatic issues, it is difficult to formulate a sustainable energy plan for the country. At the same time energy plan should have minimal effects on the health of nature by reducing CO2 emissions. To cut down CO2 emissions, to reduce fossil fuel import bills and to reduce the dependence on a third country energy supplies, India has to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the country's final energy consumption to at least 18% by 2020. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of India's energy sector, discusses the current scenario, identifies the energy utilization, challenges and puts forward some effective solutions in meeting the increasing energy demands.