Gujarat Witnesses 55% Reduction of CO2 Emissions in Energy Production with Solar Policy

Gujarat Government announced that it achieved a 55% reduction in carbon emissions in energy production after implementing Solar Power Policy. The state has reduced emissions by an impressive 9.32 million tonnes since the initiation of Gujarat Solar Policy 2021 on December 29, 2020

The remarks were made by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) on World Environment Day while discussing the contribution of the energy department towards energy conservation.

“If we examine the figures, there has been a decrease of 26.74 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in April 2023 compared to a decrease of 17.42 million tonnes in December 2020,” said a GUVNL official.

Additionally, the state has secured contracts for 6.1 GW of solar power and 1.1 GW of wind energy after the implementation of the policy. These capacities together will lead to a reduction of 11.06 million tonnes of emissions in the next three years.

Since the introduction of the policy, the state government has taken two key steps:

1. Decarbonisation Cell

• The Gujarat government created a dedicated Decarbonisation cell in 2022, to monitor emission reduction daily.
• The cell is under the authority of the Gujarat Energy Training and Research Institute (GETRI)
• It employs expert officers from several domains, including energy transmission, energy production, distribution, finance, and commerce.

2. Replacing Conventional Energy with Renewable Energy

• Emphasis was placed on meeting present and future energy demand through RE Sources.
• The state’s renewable energy capacity (solar, wind, and hydro energy) increased from 13 GW in December 2020 to over 20 GW in April 2023.
• The share of RE in Gujarat’s energy mix increased from 35% to 44%. Gujarat aims to increase this share to 80% by 2030.

Moreover, GUVNL is looking to establish 2379 MW of Energy Storage systems (ESS) in the coming years. The state government has also identified sites to install Pumped storage plants (to generate hydroelectricity).

Gujarat stands 2nd in the list of top solar states in India. As per a recent report, the state singlehandedly dominates India’s solar module production capacity with a 53% share.

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Resource: The Times of India