Context · Supply chain

What does each energy source need built, and where can its chain break?

Some energy comes in huge, slow, capital-heavy blocks, like a nuclear plant or an LNG terminal. Some comes in small pieces that are quick to add but can cost more per unit, like rooftop solar or batteries. And every source depends on a chain, from fuel or minerals to the customer, that is only as strong as its weakest link.

Lumpy or modular

Across: the size of a single build decision, from a 5 kW rooftop to a multi-gigawatt plant, on a log scale. Up: years from the decision to the first unit of energy. Blue builds are cheapest per unit at their size; orange builds pay a premium per unit for being small or first of a kind. Hover a point for its note.

Nuclear and large hydro lock up capital for close to a decade before earning anything, so the interest paid while building can rival the cost of the equipment. Rooftop solar and batteries earn within months but cost more per unit than their utility-scale versions. Small reactors try to move nuclear down and to the left; the first units have not yet shown they can.

Positions are typical values, as editorial drafts awaiting review. Ranges from CEA, NPCIL, the IEA and project records will replace them.

Each source's chain, link by link, from fuel or minerals to buyers. Blue links are ready, amber stretched, orange a bottleneck, and dashed links are missing. The ringed link is the one most likely to hold the chain back. Ratings are editorial draft judgements, awaiting review, as on the scorecard.

Ready Stretched Bottleneck Missing

Key risks to the chains

Risks that cut across several sources at once, each with its latest evidence. Click a card for its source.

India's net import share by fuel

Net imports as a share of consumption: consumption minus production, divided by consumption.

Source: , . Production and consumption are both measured in primary energy terms, so the share is approximate.