India must embrace nuclear and renewable energy in order to connect 300 million people at an acceptable carbon cost, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).
According to one scenario envisaged by the autonomous intergovernmental organisation, a combination of a range of renewables (40%) and nuclear (15%) could power the subcontinent while slashing its dependence on coal to a level where global average temperature increases could be limited to 2ºC by 2050.
In 'Technology Perspectives 2014' published in August, the IEA argues that. investment is required across the country's entire power sector in order to quadruple its output, with nuclear growing fifteen-fold (from 5.3 GWe to 80GWe) over the next four decades.
India's official stated goal for nuclear power, meanwhile, is that it will grow to supply a quarter of the nation's electricity in the same period.