A Joint Effort To Clean Energy
Fast paces growth in India's renewable energy sector is driving demand for new technologies to modernize the country's power sector. In parallel, there is a growing need to develop and deploy a broader suite of solutions aimed at reducing pollution. Resultantly, a vibrant ecosystem of sustainability-oriented startups, investors and incubators is taking shape in India today.
People are not genuinely bothered about the environmental issues and the same has steadily increased over the past decade. Consequently, the concern moved these issues up the political priority list and bolstered a massive effort to diversify India's economy away from coal and other polluting technologies and practices. While the pandemic dealt a blow to India's economy, the desire for a higher quality of life continues to move India's startup ecosystem forward.
Rest assured the network of cleantech startups that exists in India today only emerged in a meaningful way within the past few years. Experts say the sector was long held back because key stakeholders were operating in silos. Universities, incubators, investors and the public sector weren't aligned on how to incentivize innovation, discover entrepreneurs and help researchers build a business. But that's changing. India's giant talent pool is now being tapped to tackle some of the country's greatest challenges. As the share of renewable energy on India's electricity grid continues to rise and the smog continues to get uglier by the day, the need for flexible, clean power is increasing. In turn, its attracting more entrepreneurs and investors to India's cleantech sector.
In 2009, the renewable energy sector in India had roughly three megawatts solar installed on the grid. Today, it's around 36,000 megawatts. Agreed, the actual number of self-described cleantech startups in India is quite low. However, when lift the rug or take a peek under the hood at the portfolio of startups, incubators and accelerators, numbers of startups trying to solve our energy-efficiency problems and accelerate our transition to renewable energy, can blow your mind.
People are not genuinely bothered about the environmental issues and the same has steadily increased over the past decade. Consequently, the concern moved these issues up the political priority list and bolstered a massive effort to diversify India's economy away from coal and other polluting technologies and practices. While the pandemic dealt a blow to India's economy, the desire for a higher quality of life continues to move India's startup ecosystem forward.
Rest assured the network of cleantech startups that exists in India today only emerged in a meaningful way within the past few years. Experts say the sector was long held back because key stakeholders were operating in silos. Universities, incubators, investors and the public sector weren't aligned on how to incentivize innovation, discover entrepreneurs and help researchers build a business. But that's changing. India's giant talent pool is now being tapped to tackle some of the country's greatest challenges. As the share of renewable energy on India's electricity grid continues to rise and the smog continues to get uglier by the day, the need for flexible, clean power is increasing. In turn, its attracting more entrepreneurs and investors to India's cleantech sector.
In 2009, the renewable energy sector in India had roughly three megawatts solar installed on the grid. Today, it's around 36,000 megawatts. Agreed, the actual number of self-described cleantech startups in India is quite low. However, when lift the rug or take a peek under the hood at the portfolio of startups, incubators and accelerators, numbers of startups trying to solve our energy-efficiency problems and accelerate our transition to renewable energy, can blow your mind.
