Modeling the drivers for renewable energy in developing economies: A case study of India

Abstract

Renewable energy sources offer sustainable alternatives to meet the energy demands of developing economies. India, as a developing economy, has undertaken key initiatives to promote the use of renewable energy, which can be attributed to various factors. Increasing awareness about clean energy sources, rising concerns about environmental degradation, and the prominence of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are other factors that have led countries to view renewable energy as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.  The primary objective of this paper is to understand the factors that facilitate the development and adoption of renewable energy as a sustainable and clean source of energy. The paper also aims to understand the hierarchical relation between the identified enablers and further investigate the nature of linkages between them. The Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM) and Fuzzy MICMAC approach were adopted to achieve the research objectives. The study's findings identify six key enablers: environmental, institutional, regulatory, economic, technological, and social enablers. The TISM model displays three levels of hierarchy between the identified enablers, and the Fuzzy MICMAC analysis helped categorize them into driver and dependent clusters. The findings have been discussed in the context of India. The study has profound implications for theory, management, and society.