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Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont CMC Senior Theses CMC Student Scholarship 2019 A Comparative Analysis to Understand the Subnational Motivations for Renewable Energy Development in India William Cullen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses Part of the Comparative Politics Commons, Energy Policy Commons, and the Environmental Policy Commons Recommended Citation Cullen, William, "A Comparative Analysis to Understand the Subnational Motivations for Renewable Energy Development in India" (2019). CMC Senior Theses. 2175. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2175 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you by Scholarship@Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in this collection by an authorized administrator. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Claremont McKenna College A Comparative Analysis to Understand the Subnational Motivations for Renewable Energy Development in India Submitted to Professor Aseema Sinha by William J. Cullen for Senior Thesis Academic Year 2018-2019 April 29, 2019 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank Professor Sinha, for her ceaseless support, guidance, and mentorship throughout my senior thesis writing process. I am so grateful for her encouragement for me to return to India over winter break to conduct interviews. This thesis writing process has opened my eyes to the world of academia, and I hope to continue this research after graduation. Second, I am incredibly grateful to my professors at CMC who have challenged me to think about environmental issues through an interdisciplinary lens. Professor Lower, who provided me support since freshman year to think about the human rights impacts of environmental degradation. In addition, the Mgrublian Center has been incredibly supportive in helping me decide to pursue a career in renewable energy policy analysis. The Center supported me through internship opportunities, which allowed me to conduct additional interviews for this thesis. Through the Center’s support next year, I plan to continue this research and eventually publish the work in an academic journal. Professor Ascher, for his guidance and mentorship during weekly Roberts Environmental Center meetings and for instilling in me an appreciation for introduce myself with both my first and last names. Professor Evans, for advising me through my time in the Environment, Economics, and Politics major and adding to my economic understanding of environmental regulations. In addition, to Professor Williams, for helping understand the environmental science lens of climate change mitigation policies. Third, I would like to thank my friends, classmates, and sister who were always willing to listen to me about renewable energy in India. Especially those of you who studied with me in the second floor of the Athenaeum at the Roberts Environmental Center into early hours of the morning. Fourth, to the School for International Training (SIT), for supporting me during my study abroad experience in Jaipur, which led me to become interested in renewable energy development in India. Lastly, I want to thank my two amazing parents: for encouraging me to travel the world and study environmental policy. Their endless love and support allowed me to study abroad in Jaipur, India junior year, intern in Delhi summer 2018, and return over January 2019 to conduct additional interviews. I would also like to thank CabbageTree solutions for helping me transcribe several of my interviews, which are attached in the appendix to this thesis. Abstract Providing energy security and diversifying the energy production in India align with the country’s rising power ambitions and policy goals to industrialize. Renewable energy provides a useful tool for the state to meet these policy goals without producing more air pollution and additional environmental degradation. The Central Government has international ambitions of with becoming a rising responsible power; these aspirations have created new resources, incentives, and policy ideas for the subnational states in India. The purpose of this thesis is to map out the motivations, interests, and incentives of subnational elites in devising policies to promote renewable energy development in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. I develop an analytical framework based on four variables: 1) state-level party politics, 2) financial space/ indebtedness of state distribution companies, 3) institutional knowledge in state-level nodal renewable energy agencies, and 4) state-level linkages with the private sector to examine different modes of vertical alignment that subnational actors employ to develop renewable energy policies. I find that environmental concerns weren’t the primary driver of renewable energy development; instead, environmental benefits were an unintended outcome of private sector actors and state elites coordinating with the Central Government to address the pressing needs of ensuring reliable energy for industry leaders. In particular, Kerala demonstrates that even when active environmental movements and popular support exists for renewable energy, unless there are active private sector linkages, renewable energy development will remain slow. These findings may be very helpful for central government officials in India and state-level bureaucrats trying to devise climate change mitigation policies on the subnational level. Moreover, international climate change negotiators could use these findings to engage with India more to accelerate renewable energy development to slow anthropogenic climate change. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework ......................................................... 18 Chapter 3: Central Government .................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 4: Tamil Nadu ................................................................................................................ 65 Chapter 5: Kerala......................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 6: Gujarat ..................................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 7: Rajasthan ................................................................................................................. 125 Chapter 8: Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 147 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................. 152 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................. 165 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................. 171 Appendix D ................................................................................................................................. 181 Appendix E ................................................................................................................................. 187 Appendix F.................................................................................................................................. 193 List of Tables and Figures Tables 1. Overview of Economic and Energy Indicators in Four States 2. Timeline of Renewable Energy Policy Developments from Central Government 3. Roles of the State and Central Government Agencies in Policy Development, Regulation, and Promotion of Renewable Energy 4. Overview of Economic and Energy Indicators in Tamil Nadu 5. Timeline of Renewable Energy Policy Developments in Tamil Nadu 6. Overview of Economic and Energy Indicators in Kerala 7. Overview of Economic and Energy Indicators in Gujarat 8. Timeline of Renewable Energy Policy Developments in Gujarat 9. Overview of Economic and Energy Indicators in Rajasthan 10. Timeline of Renewable Energy Policy Developments in Rajasthan Figures 1. State-level Breakdown of Central Government’s Target of 175 GW by 2022 2. Breakdown of Renewable Energy Installed Capacity by State 3. Renewable Energy Growth by Year in Tamil Nadu 4. State-level Wind Power Installed Capacity 5. Ranking of Indian States in the World According to 2015 Human Development Report 6. Renewable Energy Growth by Year in Kerala 7. State-level Utilization Rates for Renewable Energy Potential 8. Renewable Energy Growth by Year in Gujarat 9. Annual Growth in Installed Solar Power Generating Capacity 10. Renewable Energy Growth by Year in Rajasthan 11. State-level Renewable Energy Potential 12. Annual Growth in Installed Wind Generating Capacity 1 Introduction On August 16, 2018, Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi addressed a crowd outside the historic Red Fort in Old Delhi for Independence Day, heralding a new era in India’s engagement with the rest of the world. PM Modi praised the country’s increased ease of doing business ranking, higher stature in international organizations, and launching of Indian-made satellites into space. PM Modi asserted that “the same set of experts who had earlier dubbed India as a ‘sleeping elephant’ are now saying that ‘sleeping elephant’ has woken up and