Food & Climate
Power generation is affecting the availability of India’s freshwater. While coal-fired power plants have consumed a significant portion of the population in many areas, a recent study warns that renewable energy is no less dangerous.
While India relies on coal to meet 70% of its power needs, it is one of the world’s fastest-growing renewable energy markets. With a long-term goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, the country is planning a massive expansion of solar and wind power. The total renewable energy potential is estimated at a staggering 24,000 gigawatts (GW), but reaching even 7,000 GW—needed to meet net-zero targets—comes with serious land and water challenges.
A recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) study, ‘Unlocking India’s renewable energy and green hydrogen potential: An assessment of land, water, and climate nexus,’ reveals that scaling renewables beyond the relatively manageable 1,500 GW mark will trigger escalating challenges, with India’s freshwater scarcity emerging as a critical concern, according to a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
This isn’t just about quenching the thirst of solar panel cleaning or cooling wind turbines; it’s about the water-intensive process of green hydrogen production, a cornerstone of India’s net-zero vision. Net zero’ is the state where the amount of greenhouse gases released is equal to the amount removed from the atmosphere.
Solar, wind, and hydrogen
While the country boasts a massive renewable energy (RE) potential of over 24,000 GW, tapping into this fully isn’t easy. Social, environmental, and economic roadblocks lie ahead.
Onshore wind could generate 1,790 GW, but much of this lies on farmland (66%) and rangeland (27%), leading to land conflicts. Offshore wind has promise too—2,435 GW—but only 30% is in shallow waters, which means we’d need costlier floating turbines. India has over 20,000 GW potential from solar power, but a whopping 88% of it suffers from seasonal dips in performance.
Population density, past land disputes, and climate risks limit where renewable plants can be built. Only 18–22% of viable land has both low risk and low cost.
One of the key pieces in India’s clean energy puzzle is green hydrogen. This fuel is produced using renewable electricity and water through a process called electrolysis, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Green hydrogen is central to India’s decarbonisation strategy, especially for sectors like heavy industry and transportation.
However, producing green hydrogen at scale requires large amounts of India’s freshwater.
India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission aims to produce 5 million tonnes per year by 2030, scaling up to around 40 million metric tonnes per year (MTPA) by 2050. Meeting these targets could significantly increase water demand, particularly in regions already struggling with water availability.
Wind–solar hybrid (WSH) setups are ideal, offering steady power and reducing production costs. India could produce around 80 million tonnes per year (MTPA) of green hydrogen this way. Encouragingly, 56 MTPA can be produced in regions with no major water stress—mainly in western and southern India. But only 25% of surface water is available year-round, so storing monsoon water adds costs. Still, India could produce 40 MTPA at under $3.5/kg, especially in Gujarat, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, according to “India water portal“.
Coal is depleting India’s freshwater
April marks the start of the cruelest months for residents of Solapur, a hot and dry district in western India. As temperatures soar, water availability dwindles. In peak summer, the wait for taps to flow can stretch to a week or more.
Just a decade ago, freshwater in India’s state flowed every other day, according to the local government and residents of Solapur, some 400 km inland from Mumbai.
Then in 2017, a 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant run by state-controlled NTPC (NTPC.NS) began operations. It provided the district with energy – and competed with residents and businesses for water from a reservoir that serves the area.
Solapur illustrates the Catch-22 facing India, which has 17% of the planet’s population but access to only 4% of its water resources. The world’s most populous country plans to spend nearly $80 billion on water-hungry coal plants by 2031 to power growing industries like data center operations.
The vast majority of these new projects are planned for India’s driest areas, according to a power ministry document reviewed by Reuters, which is not public and was created for officials to track progress.
Many of the 20 people interviewed by Reuters for this story, which included power company executives, energy officials and industry analysts, said the thermal expansion likely portended future conflict between industry and residents over limited resources of India’s freshwater.
Delhi attempted to reduce its reliance on coal before reversing track after the COVID pandemic. It has invested heavily in renewable energy sources like solar and hydro, but thirsty thermal power will still be dominant for the coming decades.
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