INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (IJRSI)
ISSN No. 2321-2705 | DOI: 10.51244/IJRSI |Volume XII Issue IX September 2025
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Is India Moving Towards Green Energy Technology? A Bird’s Eye
View
Dr. M. Umamaheswari
Assistant Professor of Commerce, St. Anony’s College of Arts and Science for Women, Dindigul (Dt),
Tamilnadu, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51244/IJRSI.2025.120800269
Received: 25 Sep 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025; Published: 04 October 2025
INTRODUCTION
Energy plays a key role in the economic development and quality of human life. India is the 3
rd
largest energy
consumer and 5
th
largest energy producer. India is the second largest populated country after China and is the
third-largest and fastest emerging economy in the world. The demand for energy has been increasing rapidly
because of the growing energy consumption of all sectors such as the agriculture sector, industrial sector,
commercial sector and residential sectors. The government of India is set to accomplish the USD 5 trillion
economies by 2024-2025.Thus, it is expected that there will be a heavy demand for energy.
India’s energy demand has been met by two different energy sources namely fossil fuel sources and renewable
energy sources, of which the former met maximum energy demand. The power sector depended mostly on
fossil fuel a source because of the production of highest quantity of the electricity is by coal. The demand of
remaining sectors namely transport, industries and residential sectors have been met by oil and biomass
sources. In the sector-wise final energy consumption in India, the industry sector stands in the first place
followed by the residential sector, transport, service, and agriculture sectors come next in order. Most of the
energy demand was fulfilled by the conventional sources which are exhaustible and anti- environmental.
Deployments of these sources will create different major environmental problems.
Key Words: India’s Energy, Conventional energy and per capita energy
Reserves and potential of energy sources in India
There are various sources of energy potential in India. The following are important reserves of conventional
energy sources.
Coal
Coal is an important energy source in India is a part of the conventional energy sources from which a higher
percentage of electricity is generated in India. India is ranked fifth in reserving largest Coal posessed by China,
Australia, Russia and US (Bp Statistics, 2019). As of 01.04.2022, India’s total reserve of coal was
361.41billion tones, (Fig.1) an addition of 9.29 billion tonnes, over the corresponding period of previous year
The top three states with highest coal reserves in India are Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, which
accounted for approximately 69% of the total coal reserves in the country.
a
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (IJRSI)
ISSN No. 2321-2705 | DOI: 10.51244/IJRSI |Volume XII Issue IX September 2025
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Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics India 2024, New Delhi.
Lignite
Total estimated of lignite as on 01-04-2022 were 46.20 billion tones, an addition of 0.19 billion tones over the
corresponding period of previous year. In terms of percentage, there has been a growth of 0.40% in the total
estimated lignite reserves during the year 2022-23 over 2021-22. The highest reserves of lignite are found in
the state of Tamil Nadu. Out of the total Lignite reserves in the country, proven reserves account for almost
only 16% of the total as depicted below in Fig 2.
Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics India 2024, New Delhi.
Crude Oil
The estimated reserves of crude oil in India as on 01-04-2022 stood at 653.02 million tonnes against 591.92
million tonnes in the previous year. An increase of over 10% over last year. Geographical distribution of Crude
Oil indicates that the maximum reserves are in the Western Offshore (33%) followed by Assam (23%) (Fig.3)
Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics India 2024, New Delhi.
Natural Gas
The estimated reserves of Natural Gas as on 01-04-2022 was at 1149.46 Billion Cubic Meters. The maximum
reserves of Natural Gas are in the Western Offshore (29.3%) followed by Eastern offshore (23.4%) (Fig. 4).
a
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (IJRSI)
ISSN No. 2321-2705 | DOI: 10.51244/IJRSI |Volume XII Issue IX September 2025
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Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics India 2024, New Delhi.
Renewable Energy
There is a high potential for generation of renewable energy from various sources like wind, solar, biomass,
small hydro and cogeneration bagasse in India. The total potential for renewable power generation in the
country as on 31.03.2023 is estimated at 2,109,654 MW(Fig.5). This includes solar power potential of
7,48,990 MW (35.50%), wind power potential of 1,163,856 MW (55.17%) at 150m hub height, large hydro
power of 133,410MW (6.32%), SHP (small-hydro power) potential of 21,134 MW (1%), Biomass power of
28,447 MW (1.35%) and 13,818 MW (0.66%) from bagasse-based cogeneration in sugar mills.
Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics 2024, New Delhi
State-wise estimated potential of Renewable Power in India in 2023(in per cent)
The geographic distribution of the estimated potential of renewable power as on 31.03.2023 shows that
Rajasthan has the highest share of about 20.3% (428322 MW) (Fig.6). This is followed by Maharashtra with
11.79% (share 248665MW). Gujarat and Karnataka come next with a 10.45% and 9.75% share (220505 MW
and 205648 MW respectively). These four (4) states are having more than 52% of the total potential of
Renewable Power in India.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (IJRSI)
ISSN No. 2321-2705 | DOI: 10.51244/IJRSI |Volume XII Issue IX September 2025
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Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics India 2024, New Delhi.
Production of Conventional Energy Sources in India
Globally, the production of energy has been increasing to meet the growing the demand of energy. Generally,
coal has been produced in several countries. Few of countries produce a large quantity. In this respect India is
in fourth place in producing the coal after Indonesia, US, and China.
Table 1 presents coal production in the country during the year 2022-23(P) was 893.19 million tonnes as
compared to 778.21 million tonnes during 2021-22. There is an increase of 14.77%. The overall trend of
production in the last ten years i.e. 2013-14 to 2022-23(P) has shown a steady increase, except 2020-21, with a
CAGR of 5.20%.
Table 1 Production of Conventional Energy Sources in India
Year
Coal
(Million
Tonnes)
Lignite
(Million
Tonnes)
Crude
Petroleum
(Million
Tonnes)
Elecrticity#
(GWh)
2013-14
565.77
44.27
37.79
2,34,595
2014-15
612.43
48.26
37.46
2,38,908
2015-16
639.23
43.84
36.94
2,24,571
2016-17
657.87
45.23
36.01
2,41842
2017-18
675.40
46.26
35.68
2,66,308
2018-19
728.72
44.28
34.20
2,99,465
2019-20
730.87
42.10
32.17
3,40,579
2020-21
716.08
37.90
30.49
3,40,576
2021-22
778.21
47.49
29.69
3,69,652
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2022-23(P)
893.19
44.99
29.18
4,11,512
Growth rate of
2022-23 over
2021-22(%)
14.77
-5.27
-1.72
11.32
CAGR 2013-14
to 2022-23(%)
5.20
0.18
-2.83
6.44
# Electricity from Hydro Nuclear and other renewable energy resources(utility)
Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics (various issues) New Delhi.
The Lignite production during 2022-23(P) has been decreased to 44.99 million tonnes from the figure of 47.49
million tonnes in 2021-22; a decrease of 5.27% over 2021-22(Table 1). However, the production of crude oil
for 2022-23 (P) came out to be 29.18 MT as compared to 29.69 MT during FY: 2022-23 which is a decline of
1.72%. The CAGRs for Crude Oil and Natural Gas, w.r.t FY: 2013-14, are having negative of -2.83% and -
0.30% respectively. Electricity (generated from Hydro, Nuclear and other Renewable energy sources) is
having the highest CAGR of 6.44%, showing the remarkable growth of Renewable Energy in India
Table 2 Consumption of Conventional Energy Resources in Physical Units
Year
Coal
Lignite
Crude
Petroleum
Natural Gas
Electricity
(GWh)
2013-14
739
44
222
52
8,74,209
2014-15
822
47
223
51
9,48,522
2015-16
837
42
233
53
10,01,191
2016-17
837
43
245
56
10,61,183
2017-18
898
46
252
59
11,23,427
2018-19
968
46
257
61
21,09,972
2019-20
956
42
254
64
12,48,086
2020-21
906
38
222
61
12,30,208
2021-22
1028
49
242
64
13,16,765
2022-23(P)
1115
57
255
60
14,03,400
Growth rate of
2022-23 over 2021-
22(%)
8.48
-4.53
5.60
-6.53
6.58
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (IJRSI)
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CAGR 2013-14 to
2022-23(%)
4.67
0.72
1.54
1.52
5.40
Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics (Various issues) New Delhi
Consumption of Conventional Energy Sources in India
Table 2 reveals that India’s total consumption of coal was 1,115 million tonnes in 2021-23(P) an increase from
739 million tonnes in 2013-14. The increase of 376 million tonnes naturally raised CAGR by 4.67 per cent
throughout the decade which indicates that the increase in consumption of coal was steady. In the case of
lignite consumption there was a fluctuation but it finally reached 57 million tonnes in 2022-23 showing an
increase by 13 million tonnes.The raise of 13 million tonnes increased the CAGR by 0.72 per cent. The
consumption of Crude petroleum raised to 255 million tonnes in 2022-23 from 222 million tonnes in 2013-14.
The consumption of natural gas was 60 BCM in-2022-23 an increase from 52 BCM in 2013-14. The increase
of 8 BCM raised CAGR by 1.52 per cent. The consumption of electricity raised to 14,03,400 GWh in 2022-23
from 8,74,209MGh in 2013-14. The increase of 5,29,191 GWh raised CAGR by 5.40 per cent. It is observed
that the among the conventional energy source in terms of consumption, the highest amount of CAGR was
found in coal (4.67 per cent), followed by crude petrol (1.54 per cent), natural gas (1.52 per cent) and Lignite
(0.72 per cent) during 2013-14 to 2022-23.
Table 3 Per Capita Energy Consumption in India
Year
Per capita Energy Consumption(MJs)
2013-14
21,419 (1.2%)
2014-15
22,434 (4.74%)
2015-16
22,629 (0.86%)
2016-17
22,866 (1.05%)
2017-18
23,569 (3.07%)
2018-19
24,629 (4.49%)
2019-20
24,243 (-1.57)
2020-21
21,965 (-9.39)
2021-22
24,095 (9.69%)
2022-23(P)
25,424 (5.51%)
CAGR
1.30
Note: Figures in parentheses denote annual growth rate.
Source: Government of India, Energy Statistics
(Various issues) New Delhi.
Per capita Energy Consumption in India
Table 3 shows the trend of per capita energy consumption in India. The per capita energy consumption is a
significant indicator for economic development of any country. India’s per capita energy consumption was
increasing steadily increased from 2013-2014 to 2022-23. As of March 2023, India’s per capita energy
consumption was 25,424 Mega Joules.
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It is observed that the highest annual growth rate (4.74 per cent) was found in 2014-2015, whereas the highest
negative growth rate was found in 2020-21(-9.39%). The CAGR of per capita energy consumption of India
was 1.30 per cent during 2013-2014 to 2022-2023.
CONCLUSION
Globally, the production of energy has been increasing to meet the growing the demand of energy. India is in
fourth place in producing the coal after Indonesia, US, and China. The top three states with highest coal
reserves in India are Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, which account for approximately 69% of the total coal
reserves in the country. There is a high potential for generation of renewable energy from various sources like
wind, solar, biomass, small hydro and cogeneration bagasse in India. The overall annual growth rate of per
capita energy consumption of India was fluctuating during the period of the study.
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