Karnataka and Gujarat made the most progress towards clean electricity transition

The report analyses 16 Indian states, which together account for 90% of the country’s annual power requirement, across four dimensions. The dimensions track a state’s preparedness to shift away from fossil-fuel-based power, its ability to incentivise greener market participation, its power system’s reliability and its policies pushing for power sector decarbonisation. Based on this analysis, the report authors devised the States’ Electricity Transition (SET) scoring system, which measures the performance of the different states in the transition to clean electricity.

Further, according to  Aditya Lolla, Senior Electricity Policy Analyst at Ember, introducing private sector participation and competition would bring more capital and management expertise into the electricity sector. This will help enhance operational efficiency and increase accessibility and affordability.

The report highlights increasing states’ participation in green market mechanisms as a key element to the clean electricity transition.

The report also highlights that innovative bilateral financial markets mechanisms like Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPA) and Contracts for Difference (CfD) have huge potential to open up the market and give buyers and regulators the required assurance on handling intermittent renewable energy generation.

Another key aspect where states can do better is data availability and transparency. To monitor progress effectively and course-correct when necessary, the report calls for data availability and transparency improvement. 

Also, the report finds that the states need to develop a more holistic and circular approach towards handling solar panel, battery and electric vehicle waste. This will become even more crucial as India sets up new manufacturing units under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) scheme.

Finally, the report highlights that several states must also bridge the gap between the intent of their electricity transition policies and their implementation.