India’s current per capita electricity consumption is less than a quarter of the world average but is expected to grow significantly in the future. Shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) are narratives visualising alternative futures of the world.

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), issued a new report concluding that distributed solar energy can play a major role in bridging India’s massive gap in delivering rural healthcare services, both as a primary and backup source of power.

Renewable energy job creation and skill development is one of the Indian government’s foremost objectives. However, credible information on the number of jobs that have been created so far, and those that can be created in future to achieve India’s renewable energy goal of 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, has been lacking.

This briefing paper reports on the largest energy access survey ever conducted in India, covering a representative sample of the rural poor across six states with interviews in 8,566 households.

If the Railways were to consider the 5 GW target, one of the first steps for its successful implementation, is to develop an understanding of the policy and regulatory scenario across various states, so as to understand the opportunities and challenges for solar developers to set up projects.

In India, only 46 per cent of the cultivated land is irrigated. With more than 19 million agriculture electricity connections, irrigation accounts for more than a fifth of the country’s total power sales.

Electricity generated from any source, whether traditional or renewable, needs to be consumed instantly. This limitation of electricity has led to the development of energy storage technologies. Energy storage has been part of the electric system for decades.

Biomass pellet production has increased considerably in recent years, mainly due to the demand created by policies and bioenergy-use targets in the European Union (EU). Global biomass pellet production was 24.1 million tonne (Mt) in 2014.

Patents and other intellectual property such as know-how are a complex issue for policy makers and civil society experts, especially considering the large number of patents involved and the sensitivity and confidentiality around licensing agreements. This paper does not attempt to offer a solution to the patent debate.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are often used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) in various sectors, including refrigeration, air-conditioning, aerosols, fire extinguishers, and foam blowing.