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ABSTRACT
This article evaluates the winners and losers of the energy transition playing out around the Pavagada solar park in Karnataka, India. We analyse how the innovative land leasing and competitive tendering mechanisms of the ‘Pavagada model’ have shaped the socio-ecological relations and outcomes of the project. We show the solar park has provided investors with low-risk returns, state electricity distributers with low-cost power, and larger landowners with new income streams. However, we find that the model is entrenching colonial, gender, and caste-based inequalities and oppressions, particularly for landless agricultural labourers who have lost their sources of livelihood. We argue that when renewable energy policy is primarily concerned with reducing costs and managing risks for private investors and state actors, the potential benefits of energy transition will not be equitably shared. The case of Pavagada demonstrates the need for democratic ownership and control of renewable energy.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Kavitha Srinivasan for translations, and to the rest of the Decarbonising Electricity team for the collective research effort.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Devleena Ghosh
Devleena Ghosh is Honorary Professor in the School of Communications at the University of Technology Sydney.
Gareth Bryant
Gareth Bryant is Senior Lecturer and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney.
Priya Pillai
Priya Pillai is PhD Candidate in the School of Communications at the University of Technology Sydney.