Sustainable development has become a global imperative, and India, as the world’s most populous country, plays a crucial role in this transition. Ensuring energy security while shifting towards renewable sources is a key challenge for Indian states. This article series evaluates the performance of different regions such as Northern, Central, Eastern, and North-Eastern zonal councils of India, in achieving energy security and explores how renewable energy can bridge existing supply gaps.

Focusing on the Western Zone, which comprises Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli, this analysis examines the region’s energy landscape, highlighting opportunities and challenges in the transition to sustainable power solutions.

For the purpose of analysis, we shall stick to the three states as mentioned above.

Demand-Supply Analysis of Energy Infrastructure:

Power Requirements and Demand Matching

Western Zone of India is dominated by the presence of two industrial giants: Gujarat and Maharashtra. It is reflected in their massive power requirements, which are hardly seen in other states. Being states with sizeable industries located in it, their power requirements are off the charts. Goa, on the other hand, being a small state with tourism economy, has much lesser power requirements.

That being said, whatever miniscule power is required by Goa is being met as of 2023-24. The same is not seen in Gujarat or Maharashtra. Maharashtra performs particularly poorly when it comes to power demand being met. As of last year, 1970 MW of power demand in the state was left unattended. This means wastage of growth potential of the state.

Per Capita Power Availability:

Power requirement suggests how much power a state to sustain its growth. However, power availability per capita gives a better understanding of how much the power infrastructure is benefitting the residents of the state. Rather counter-intuitively, Goa emerges as the top performer in this indicator, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra. As discussed earlier, Gujarat and Maharashtra are industrial hubs and provide many employment opportunities. Naturally, the population size in these states is high. Per capita power availability, therefore is negatively impacted here. Also, energy infrastructure in these states, particularly Maharashtra is highly skewed. The industrial clusters of Mumbai and Pune drive majority of growth of the state, while Eastern Maharashtra remains in shadows. This trend of development is also seen in power availability.

Installed Power Capacity:

Installed power capacity is the one metric that is almost coincidental with industrialization levels in a state. Naturally, installed capacity of Goa is very less. Also, being a part of the Western Ghats, the topography of Goa is not particularly suitable for large scale power installations.

This trend is reversed in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Gujarat boasts of a rather robust energy infrastructure, with installed capacity of 52,425 Megawatt. This is higher than any other state in India. Maharashtra also has a sizeable installed capacity of 47,801 Megawatt. It ranks second, after Gujarat, in terms of power generation across India.

One can clearly see that these two states are giving in their due when it comes to contributions to the national energy infrastructure. However, now that these states have made strides in economic development, onus lies on them to shift towards greener alternatives.

Path Towards Sustainability: State-wise Approach

Goa: Off-Grid Solar Scaling

Currently, Goa has made strides in rooftop solar installations. It can exhibit a similar zest in off-grid installations.

Government Recommendations:

• Increase coverage of off-grid solar installations under PM-KUSUM
• Work on improving efficiency of biomass power in the state.

Private Sector Role:

• Look into manufacturing of small scale solar equipment that can then be scaled up.
• Invest in Waste-to-energy power generation through biomass.

Gujarat: Wind and Solar as the Growth Drivers

Due to its peculiar geography, Gujarat highly favours wind and solar power generation. It also has a robust and deeply penetrated network of these two energy infrastructure modes.

Government Recommendations:

• Look into scalability of hybrid solar components.
• Work on improving efficiency of biomass power generation in the state.

Private Sector Role:

• Invest in more research on hybrid solar power generation.
• Work on manufacturing of solar equipment at more affordable price.

Maharashtra: Scope for Scaling Up of All Sources

Maharashtra has a good mix of energy through all renewable sources. However, all these sources can be scaled up further in terms of power generation.

Government Recommendations:

• Use a mix of various renewable sources to generate electricity in all parts of the state. Bottom-up approach should be used in harnessing renewable potential of all regions of the state.
• Work on improving biomass energy generation, particularly in the agrarian districts.

Private Sector Role:

• Sugar cooperatives in the state can aid in bagasse and non-bagasse cogeneration production of Maharashtra.
• Work on providing off-grid and rooftop solar equipment to the rainshadow zone of the state.

Conclusion:

Western region of India speaks of both prosperity and opportunity. Goa, a small and service-oriented state, can work on smaller power installations. Even these marginal contributions go a long way when reaching towards the ultimate goal of net zero. While the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra have become very affluent, there is still much to do in terms of energy provisions. Particularly, the regional imbalances in energy supply in the states need to be worked on. A holistic development