Give an account of the current status and the targets to be achieved pertaining to renewable energy sources in the country. Discuss briefly the importance of the National Programme on Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

Introduction: India is pursuing energy security on two complementary tracks — adding clean generation capacity and cutting wasteful electricity demand. The growth of renewables and the national LED push together advance both at once.

Current status: India is the world's third-largest renewable power nation, with non-fossil installed capacity now in the range of about 280–290 GW. Solar leads, making up over half the renewable fleet, followed by wind, with hydro, large bio-power and small hydro adding the balance. The country crossed the milestone of sourcing half its installed power capacity from non-fossil fuels well ahead of schedule.

Targets: The headline goal is 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030, requiring roughly 50 GW of additions each year. Under the Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contribution, India also aims to source about half its electric capacity from non-fossil sources and to cut the emissions intensity of its economy steeply by 2030.

Importance of the LED programme: The national LED effort runs through UJALA for households and the Street Lighting National Programme for municipalities, both implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited. Bulk demand-aggregation crashed the retail price of an LED bulb, putting crores of bulbs and over a crore of streetlights into use. It now saves tens of billions of kilowatt-hours every year, trims peak demand by thousands of megawatts and avoids tens of millions of tonnes of carbon — saving energy far more cheaply than building new plants.

Conclusion: Expanding renewable supply while curbing demand through efficient lighting delivers reliable, affordable and low-carbon energy.