Meeting India’s future needs of electricity through renewable energy sources

In this article, an attempt is made to answer the question: Can renewable energy sources eventually supply India’s electricity needs in the future? The estimates made here indicate that even with a frugal per capita electricity need of 2000 kWh/annum and a stabilized population of 1700 million by 2070, India would need to generate 3400 TWh/yr. As opposed to this, a systematic analysis of the information available on all the renewable energy sources indicates that the total potential is only around 1229 TWh/yr. It is concluded that in the future as fossil fuels are exhausted, renewable
sources alone will not suffice for meeting India’s needs.