New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) India may be emerging as a global example of how developing economies can industrialise without first becoming deeply dependent on fossil fuels, according to a new analysis by energy think tank Ember.
The report, written by energy experts Kingsmill Bond and Sumant Sinha cited by Forbes, argues that India’s rapid shift towards solar power, electrification and clean technologies could challenge the century-old model of economic development built around coal, oil and gas.
For decades, industrial growth across the West and later China followed a similar path — moving from biomass to coal and fossil fuels before eventually transitioning towards cleaner energy systems after years of pollution-intensive growth.
However, the Ember analysis suggests that India could be following a different route by adopting what it describes as an “electrotech fast-track.”
According to the report, India is increasingly moving directly towards an electricity-driven economy powered by solar energy, batteries, electric vehicles, digital technologies and electrification, instead of locking itself into long-term fossil fuel dependency.
The analysis noted that while many Indian cities, including New Delhi, continue to struggle with severe air pollution linked to coal-fired power plants, vehicle emissions and agricultural burning, India’s broader energy transition trajectory appears significantly different from the fossil-heavy industrialisation path previously taken by Western nations and China.
Ember said solar power accounted for nearly 9 per cent of India’s electricity generation in 2025, compared to around 0.5 per cent a decade ago.
At a comparable level of economic development, China had only negligible solar generation, the report noted.
The report further highlighted that India reached a 5 per cent solar share in electricity generation at a much lower GDP per capita level than China did, suggesting that renewable energy is entering India’s industrial growth phase much earlier.
According to the analysis, India is also electrifying transportation faster than China did at a similar stage of development.
It added that solar and wind electricity generation per capita in India is now substantially higher than what China had achieved at a comparable income level.
However, the report cautioned that India’s transition remains incomplete, as coal continues to play a major role in the country’s energy mix.
It also pointed to several challenges, including grid bottlenecks, storage deployment, land acquisition, financial stress in distribution companies and coal-sector dependence.
According to Ember, solar-plus-storage systems in India are now nearly half the cost of building new coal plants, with the gap expected to widen further as renewable technologies become cheaper and coal plants face declining utilisation rates.
–IANS
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