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Bengaluru: India’s investments in solar power are delivering. According to a new analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an independent research organisation, India is among the five countries that recorded a dip in fossil fuel-driven power generation after the first month of the Hormuz blockade brought on by the US-Iran war. India was able to offset this dip due to large increases in solar power generation.

Globally, power generation from fossil fuels fell in March as growth in solar and wind power offset the effect of the Hormuz blockade, the CREA report found.

CREA’s finding that the share of renewable energy in India’s generation mix has increased compared to March last year while coal has declined is an “important milestone”, energy experts told The Wire. However, India’s energy requirements show an evening peak – something solar cannot cater to. This needs to be managed via battery storage and other improvements, they added.

Fossil fuel power generation dips globally

Around 20% of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas passes through the two mile-wide shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, per a recent briefing by research firm Zero Carbon Analytics. According to Kpler, a data agency that tracks and monitors shipping vessels worldwide, 50% of India’s crude imports transit through the Strait of Hormuz — the same strait that has witnessed a huge drop in ship movement due to the war between the United States and Israel, and Iran.

India, therefore, remains highly exposed to potential supply disruptions, Kpler had warned. Experts have said that given the increasingly volatile West Asian landscape, rapid deployment of clean technologies is no longer just a climate imperative but a strategic necessity for India, as The Wire had reported on March 2.

The CREA compiled near-real-time power generation data across countries including the US, China, EU and India from several sources including Grid-India, Ember and the International Energy Agency. Grid-India (formerly the Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) is a Government of India Enterprise under the Ministry of Power, which operates India’s........

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