Renewable energy production in India ramps up

While the new solar installations rose from January to August by 22 per cent year-on-year, new wind installations increased by only 7 per cent, with only 1.1 GW installed between January to August 2022, shows data.

India had set a target of installing 175 GW of RE capacity by 2022 end – 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power

As India races against time to meet its December 2022 target of achieving 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity, four big states continue to account for over half of the total shortfall, says a new report.

According to the latest assessment done by global energy think tank Ember as part of its ‘State Renewable Energy Tracker’, India is still 58 GW away from meeting its 2022 goal. At least 61 per cent of the current shortfall is in Maharashtra (11.1 GW), Uttar Pradesh (9.7 GW), Andhra Pradesh (9.2 GW), and Madhya Pradesh (6.5 GW) — states that built less than 3 per cent of India’s renewables installed till August.

In its commitment to climate action, the government had set a target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of this year, with 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power. This was part of the larger aim of achieving 450 GW (now increased to 500 GW) of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by the year 2030.

The analysis based on the state-wise installed RE capacity data, published monthly by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), shows that by August, India had installed 11.1 GW of renewable capacity compared to 9.5 GW in the same period in 2021. While there was a strong year-on-year growth of 17 per cent in the first eight months of the year, it may still fall short of realising the year-end goal. The 2030 target, however, seems well within reach, says the report, but for that India would need to install renewables 2.5 times faster to maintain the required monthly build-rates.

Solar continues to power the clean energy transition and constitutes 89 per cent of all renewables growth. While the new solar installations rose from January to August by 22 per cent year-on-year, new wind installations increased by only 7 per cent, with only 1.1 GW installed between January to August 2022, shows data.

Despite holding the fourth-largest wind power capacity in the world, wind constitutes just 10 per cent of India’s renewables growth, with small hydro and bioenergy at 1 per cent of all renewable growth in January to August 2022. “Wind capacity additions have fallen to very low levels for a few years. Although the biggest future growth is likely to be solar, wind still has a vital role to play,” the analysis says.

Overall renewable installations hit a record high of 3.5 GW in March, but it slowed considerably April onwards, partly due to an increase in the basic customs duty which hit the imported solar panels this summer. By July, this plummeted to just 0.3 GW — the lowest growth since June 2020 — before picking up and reaching 1.6 GW in August.

With a consistent build-rate in the last few years, Gujarat has joined Telangana, Rajasthan and Karnataka to become the fourth state to achieve its December target.

Rajasthan and Gujarat are now powering India’s transition, with Rajasthan leading the charge as the state with the most installed renewable energy. Almost half of the renewables built in India this year were in Rajasthan (5 GW out of 11.1 GW). In the first eight months of this year, nearly 49 per cent of India’s new solar capacity was built in Rajasthan and 63 per cent of India’s new wind capacity was built in Gujarat.