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Energy transition in India: what’s happening on the demand side
6/8/2025
8 min read
Feature
Mohua Mukherjee, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), looks at the state of play of the energy transition on the demand side, with useful lessons for all developing countries.
Globally, energy transitions are assessed by the renewable energy capacity installed as a share of total generation capacity, and then by the more meaningful indicator of how much ‘renewable electricity’ is generated and delivered as a percentage of the total.
Policymakers are on a learning curve, as there is little or no experience decarbonising a market with India’s characteristics. However, this is a timely lesson for developing countries with traditional and often congested grids, that vies with renewable energy as a stand-alone solution.
Automated, modernised electricity grids and energy storage must necessarily be considered as part of their transition requirements. But while complementary investments are needed, they must be implemented in a way that keeps clean energy affordable for India’s price sensitive users.