Assessment of Clean Energy Transition Potential in Major Power-Producing States of India Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Abstract

India has an ambitious target to promote clean energy penetration, but as of 2021, the electricity mix of India is dominated by coal to about 71%. Therefore, analyzing the clean energy potential and the ability of the individual states to entrench energy transition in the upcoming years will be supportive for policymakers. This study is propounded to assess the clean energy transition potential with a focused analysis on seven major power-producing states of India. These states include Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. The clean energy transition potential assessment is performed by utilizing multi-criteria decision analysis methodologies such as the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Multi-Objective Optimization Method by Ratio Analysis (MOORA). Further, the analysis is performed against four major criteria that include high carbon energy resource dependency, low carbon energy resource dependency, clean energy potential, and policy support. Altogether, the assessment criteria include four primary level criteria and fourteen secondary level parameters. In order to reflect the significance of each parameter and criterion to the characteristics of clean energy transition potential, appropriate weightage is provided using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results indicate that Gujarat has the highest clean energy transition potential in both the multi-criteria decision analysis methods. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh exhibited the least performance, and a complete energy transition to clean energy resources is less likely in this state. The rest of the states obtained intermediate ranking, and a comparative analysis between the two methods was also accomplished. This study suggests that India should focus on the clean energy policy with vigorous efforts on top-performing states which will effectively accelerate the power sector decarbonization.