A Holistic Review of the Present and Future Drivers of the Renewable Energy Mix in Maharashtra, State of India

Rajvikram Madurai Elavarasan, Leoponraj Selvamanohar, Kannadasan Raju, Raghavendra Rajan Vijayaraghavan, Ramkumar Subburaj, Mohammad Nurunnabi, Irfan Ahmad Khan, Syed Afridhis, Akshaya Hariharan, Rishi Pugazhendhi, Umashankar Subramaniam and Narottam Das
Additional contact information
Rajvikram Madurai Elavarasan: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India
Leoponraj Selvamanohar: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India
Kannadasan Raju: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India
Raghavendra Rajan Vijayaraghavan: Research and Development Laboratory, Innovate Educational Institute, Chennai 600069, India
Ramkumar Subburaj: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India
Mohammad Nurunnabi: Business Society and Environmental Laboratory, College of Business Administration, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Irfan Ahmad Khan: Marine Engineering Technology Department in a Joint Appointment with Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A & M University, Galveston, TX 77553, USA
Syed Afridhis: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India
Akshaya Hariharan: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India
Rishi Pugazhendhi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai 602117, India
Umashankar Subramaniam: Renewable Energy Laboratory, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Narottam Das: School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, Melbourne 3000, Australia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-33

Abstract: A strong energy mix of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) is needed for sustainable development in the electricity sector. India stands as one of the fastest developing countries in terms of RES production. In this framework, the main objective of this review is to critically scrutinize the Maharashtra state energy landscape to discover the gaps, barriers, and challenges therein and to provide recommendations and suggestions for attaining the RES target by 2022. This work begins with a discussion about the RES trends in various developing countries. Subsequently, it scrutinizes the installed capacity of India, reporting that Maharashtra state holds a considerable stake in the Indian energy mix. A further examination of the state energy mix is carried out by comparing the current and future targets of the state action plan. It is found that the installed capacity of RESs accounts for about 22% of the state energy mix. Moreover, the current installed capacity trend is markedly different from the goals set out in the action plan of the state. Notably, the installed capacity of solar energy is four times less than the target for 2020. Importantly, meeting the targeted RES capacity for 2022 presents a great challenge to the state. Considering this, an analysis of the state’s strengths, barriers, and challenges is presented. Moreover, strong suggestions and recommendations are provided to clear the track to reach the desired destination. This can be useful for the government agencies, research community, private investors, policymakers, and stakeholders involved in building a sustainable energy system for the future.

Keywords: Maharashtra Energy System; energy mix; energy policy; Renewable Energy Sources; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6596/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6596/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6596-:d:399121

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().