New Delhi (NVI): India has the fastest growing rate of energy consumption globally and by 2050, it will consume more energy than the US and its consumption will remain second only to China through 2050, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook 2019 (IEO2019).
Long-term energy consumption projections in India are uncertain because of its rapid rate of change magnified by the size of its economy, it says.
In the IEO2019 Reference case, EIA projects the economy of India to surpass the economies of the European countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United States by the late 2030s to become the second-largest economy in the world, behind only China.
In EIA’s analysis, gross domestic product values for countries and regions are expressed in purchasing power parity terms.
It says that India’s economic growth will continue to drive the country’s growing energy consumption.
In the IEO2019 Reference case, India’s total energy consumption increases from 35 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2018 to 120 quadrillion Btu in 2050, growing from a 6% share of the world total to 13%. However, annually, the level of GDP in India has a lower energy consumption than some other countries and regions.
EIA’s analysis shows that the country’s industrial activity has a greater effect on India’s energy consumption than technological improvements. In the IEO2019 Composition and Combination cases, where the assumption is that economic growth is more concentrated in manufacturing, energy use in India grows at a greater rate because those industries have higher energy intensities.
