India's renewable energy generation capacity crosses 100 gigawatts

India’s renewable energy generation capacity excluding large scale hydro projects has crossed 100 GW, power and renewable energy minister R K Singh said on Thursday.

The country stands fourth in the world in terms of installed renewable energy capacity, fifth in solar, and fourth in wind in terms of installed capacity.

While 100 GW has been installed, 50 GW is under installation and 27 GW is under tendering. India has also enhanced its ambition to install 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. If large hydro is included the installed RE capacity increases to 146 GW, an official statement issued by the ministry of new and renewable energy said.

“Another landmark day in the history of the Indian Power Sector,” power and renewable energy minister Singh tweeted.

A report by CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF) found out that non-hydro renewable energy accounted for 25.2% of total generation capacity in Q1 FY22, up from 24.7% in Q4 FY21.

This happened even though RE capacity addition slowed down considerably in Q1 due to India’s second COVID-19 wave. Further, no new coal-based capacity was added in Q1 for the first time in more than 14 quarters, it said.

The report showed total generation in Q1 FY22 was up by 17.2% compared to Q1 FY21, owing to record peak power demand in India during summers and economic recovery after the relaxation of Covid-19 second wave led lockdown

The overall renewable generation increased by 15%, while large hydro generation dipped by 11.7%, and coal/lignite generation grew significantly by 27.9% over Q1 FY21.

The share of renewable energy in average daily generation remained nearly the same in Q1 FY22 as the corresponding period last year, the report said.

---

Credit: ET