Kanika Chawla

In 2014 India made a commitment to install 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2022. At the time that it made this commitment, it had an installed capacity of 3 gigawatts of solar power. So it was basically committing to doubling its solar capacity every 18 months.

The audacity of this commitment left the world divided. The world's third largest energy consumer and second largest coal consumer was betting on solar. And while many thought that this goal was unrealistic and overly ambitious, others, like me, thought it was all very exciting and potentially the opportunity of a lifetime. As it turns out, I was right.

And India reached this milestone in February 2025, becoming one of the first few countries in the world to do so, and simultaneously unlocking 90 billion dollars in investment and creating 300,000 new solar jobs.

For India, the solar revolution has become something of a gift that keeps on giving. It has catapulted India into a global climate leader, while boosting power supply in the country to end blackouts and brownouts for local communities. This is why it is committed to keep going. It is now working on a goal of 500 gigawatts of clean power by 2030.

which basically means that in 2030 every second electron used in India, be it in a household, in industry or in transport, would come from a clean power source.

Minusta tämä solarevoluutti on ollut toivon järjestelmä. Ei vain suurin piirtein, mutta myös motivaation takia. India ei soittanut solaan ideologisista syistä. Se soittaa solaan ekonomisista syistä. Oli aikaa nähdä, mitä suurin osa maailmaa näkee tänään selkeästi. Se, että renyansointi on hyvää ekonomiaa.

This has been my primary takeaway from the work that I've done with a range of countries over the last 15 years. I've spent much of that time trying to answer a question that many of you may be thinking about right now, which is, the commitments are all well and good, but how are we going to pay for it? Especially in developing countries where the cost of finance continues to be high, where as much as 70 percent of the cost of a single solar electron could be from the cost of capital.

Ja toivottavasti vastaus on innovaatio. Ja kun teknologiallinen innovaatio on rauhoittanut solarenergian arvoa, jota se on kaikkein maailman maailman rauhoitunein sähköpostiin, teknologiallinen innovaatio yksinkertaisesti ei saa sitä tehtyä. Suomalaisen innovaatio on niin suuri tarina yritysmodelleihin ja markkinointiin kuin teknologiasta.

For instance, when India first made this commitment, the private sector responded with eagerness. Developers and manufacturers came readily to India's solar party. But capital remained elusive.

Much of this power that India wanted to deploy would have to be bought by its electricity utilities. And these electricity utilities have chronically been in very bad financial health. So adding large shares of variable solar, which at the time was still a bit more expensive, into their mix was not going to make their life any easier. And so they delayed payments to solar developers, putting many of them out of business and spooking investors.

This was not a great look for a country that was trying to raise 100 billion dollars of solar investment.

but the government experimented. It worked with state governments around the country to get them to demand solar power from their electricity utilities. It worked with other large consumers, like the railways, to get them to act as anchor customers for the development of new solar parks. And finally, it worked with development partners to make sure that the energy infrastructure was fortified so that more solar energy could be integrated into the grid.

This did not solve all of the problems of India's electricity utilities. But it did make sure that these utilities paid their solar bills on time. And that was enough to get capital to also come to India's solar party. So this very exciting revolution was really built on the back of some quite boring things. Things like plans and policies and business models. But this is not unique to India.

Paljon esimerkkejä maailman ympärillä, joissa maat käyttävät samanlaisia hankkeita, jotka auttavat isojen solarehankkeisiin, ovat antaneet minulle uskoa, että alueen lähtökohtaisuus voidaan käsitellä kolme erilaista tasoa. Minulle nämä ovat suunnitelma, innovaatio ja lokalisaatio.

Plansseja on oikeastaan se, mikä tekee suunnitelmia todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella todella

Ghana already had a net zero commitment to get to net zero by 2070. But it was in the making of this plan that they were able to look at the evidence as well as look at the trade-offs and not just develop a how-to guide, but actually plan to get to this net zero now by 2060.

but plans have to be put into motion, and this is where innovation comes in. And developing countries are hotbeds for innovation. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, where the scaling of small solar solutions is curtailed not just by their financial viability, but also by quality concerns,

a innovative results-based financing mechanism that structures the payment partly at the start of a project and partly at the end of a project, once quality checks have been made, addresses both these risks. One such facility leveraged 13.5 million dollars to unlock 55,000 new connections across five countries.

Ja viimeisenä energiakäyttö on tarina luoda arvoa ja turvallisuutta. Tämän perusteella lokalisaatio on todella tärkeää. Esimerkiksi täällä Keniassa on Renewable Energy Powerhouse, jossa 90 prosenttia säästöä tulee jo kylmän energiakäyttöön, joka laittaa säästöön hyvin 100 prosenttia kylmän säästöä vuoteen 2030.

Mutta sen jälkeen Kenia tuottaa 50 miljoonaa sola-panelia yhdellä vuodella. Tämä on rahaa, jota se tuottaa maan ulkopuolelle. Mutta hallitus ei tarvitse sitä enää. Se kehittää nyt erilaisia valmistelujärjestelmiä, jotka eivät vain tuottaa rahaa maan ulkopuolelle, vaan luovat myös töitä kansalaisille Kenialaisille.