India's Coal & Gas Decline Signals Accelerating Renewable Energy Transition - CleanTechnica

The article highlights a significant shift in India’s energy landscape, marked by a steep decline in coal usage as of May 2025—the largest year-over-year drop since the COVID-19 pandemic. This decline is driven by economic slowdowns, rapid expansion of renewables, and increasingly cost-competitive solar and wind projects, signaling a potential tipping point toward decarbonization. Despite coal’s entrenched role in powering India’s industrial sectors and accounting for nearly half of the country’s primary energy input in 2023, its inefficiencies—where about two-thirds of coal’s energy content is lost as waste heat—underscore the urgency for a transition to cleaner, more efficient energy sources. Renewables, while growing, still made up less than a quarter of electricity generation in 2023, reflecting the substantial scaling challenges ahead. Looking toward 2050, the article envisions a fully electrified Indian economy predominantly powered by renewables such as wind, solar, and hydro, with nuclear energy maintained at current levels. This future energy system would leverage the efficiency gains of electrification, particularly through widespread adoption of electric vehicles and heat pumps, which significantly reduce energy demand in transport, residential, and commercial sectors. The strategic use of ambient environmental heat via heat pumps and the integration of geothermal energy could further reduce electricity needs, transforming India’s energy consumption into a highly efficient and sustainable model. This transition offers not only environmental benefits but also economic resilience by addressing inefficiencies and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.