Electrifying industrial heat in India is now cheaper than producing heat from natural gas and oil across all temperatures, and cheaper than coal in three of five temperature bands, representing 55 percent of the country’s industrial heat needs. Some of the world’s cheapest solar prices – $30/MWh for utility scale solar, $43/MWh for solar + battery storage – means India’s industrial sector can switch from expensive, volatile imported fossil fuel to cheap, clean electricity today.
Manufacturing is India’s economic engine, providing 19.5 million jobs and 17 percent of national GDP, but generating massive costs: Industry consumes half the country’s final energy use, blanketing India with severe air pollution and sickening its population, and creates a systemic economic vulnerability due to its to imported fossil fuels, risking inflation and industrial disruption whenever global markets suffer disruption from war or extreme weather.
The right combination of pro-industry policies could help electric technologies like heat pumps and thermal batteries powered by solar energy slash India’s industrial energy use 22 percent, and cut its carbon dioxide emissions 51 percent, while preventing 794,000 premature deaths and 1.73 million asthma cases per year.
