UPSC Mains 2022 GS Paper 3 Q12: model answer
Do you think India will meet 50 percent of its energy needs from renewable energy by 2030? Justify your answer. How will the shift of subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables help achieve the above objective? Explain.
What the question wants
Judge whether India can meet half of its energy needs from renewables by 2030, and explain how moving subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables would help.
How to structure it
Clarify the target, judge, then subsidy shift.
- What the target really is
- Progress
- Reasons for optimism
- Obstacles
- Shifting subsidies
- Verdict
How to think it through
Panchamrit at COP26: 500 GW non-fossil and 50% of energy requirement from renewables by 2030. Updated NDC (2022): 50% of installed electric capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030 — achieved June 2025. Generation share much lower (~25–30% non-fossil in electricity), and primary energy still ~55% coal. Optimism: auctions, falling costs, storage. Obstacles: storage, transmission, discoms, land, cell imports, intermittency, industry heat. Subsidy shift: fossil subsidies fell sharply after petrol (2010) and diesel (2014) decontrol; IISD found fossil support still higher than RE support; shift via storage VGF, green hydrogen, rooftop subsidy, EV incentives, coal cess (now part of GST compensation, ended).
Model answer
At COP26 in Glasgow, India promised in its Panchamrit to meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewables by 2030. The updated NDC of 2022 wrote a narrower version: 50% of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources. India met that one in June 2025, five years early. Whether the wider promise will be met is a harder question.
Where India stands
- Non-fossil capacity crossed 300 GW in July 2026, against the 500 GW goal for 2030.
- But capacity is not generation: solar runs for a few hours a day, so non-fossil sources still produce only around a quarter to a third of electricity.
- Electricity is itself only part of total energy; coal, oil and gas still dominate industry, transport and cooking.
Reasons for optimism
- Solar and wind are now the cheapest new power.
- Auctions of about 50 GW a year of renewable capacity.
- Battery storage prices falling, with viability gap funding.
- Green hydrogen mission and electric mobility.
Obstacles
- Storage and evening peaks.
- Transmission lags behind solar parks.
- Weak discom finances and contract delays.
- Imported cells and wafers.
- Hard-to-abate sectors: steel, cement, fertiliser.
How shifting subsidies would help
- Petrol (2010) and diesel (2014) prices were decontrolled, freeing money; IISD studies found fossil fuel subsidies fell sharply after 2014.
- Redirecting funds to rooftop solar, storage, green hydrogen and EV charging lowers clean energy costs.
- Price signals: cheaper clean options change the choices of households and industry.
- Funds for just transition in coal districts like Dhanbad and Korba.
Verdict
- The capacity target is already met; 50% of all energy needs by 2030 is unlikely without storage, grids and a deeper subsidy shift.
The answer is yes for capacity, not yet for energy, and the difference is where the next decade's work lies.
Draw: Two bars: share in capacity (about 50%) vs share in generation (about 30%).
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Panchamrit, 50% energy requirement, updated NDC 2022, 50% non-fossil capacity June 2025, 500 GW, capacity vs generation, storage VGF, decontrol 2010/2014, IISD, just transition.
Where most answers lose marks
- Treating capacity share and energy share as the same. Clarify the target first.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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