India’s race to 175 GW of renewables stalled by key states’ performance

April 28, 2022 uma gupta

AN report published today by global think tank Ember reveals that four of India’s states and union territories have already exceeded their renewable capacity (RE) targets for 2022, as India targets 175 GW RE by December 2022. But 27 States and union territories have not yet achieved even half. of their respective goals and would need a big step forward to reach them before the end of the year.

The investigation, titled India’s race to 175 GW, shows that India has installed 110 GW of renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro) as of March 2022, which is 63% of the 175 GW target. With 54 GW of solar capacity and 40 GW of wind capacity on the grid, the nation is at half of its solar power target and two-thirds of its wind power target by 2022.

As of March 2022, the states of Telangana (248%), Rajasthan (119%), Karnataka (107%) and the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar (129%) have exceeded their year-end targets, while Gujarat (97%) and Tamil Nadu (75%) are getting closer to their goals. Uttarakhand (52%) and Sikkim (66%) are the only other states to have achieved more than 50% of their target.

The report says all states must contribute as the nation will need an additional 65 GW over the next nine months to meet its renewable energy target of 175 GW by December 2022. Five key states in India account for two-thirds of this shortfall. of 65 GW: Maharashtra (11 GW), Uttar Pradesh (10 GW), Andhra Pradesh (9 GW), Madhya Pradesh (7 GW) and Tamil Nadu (5 GW).

“The lack of progress in key states is holding back India’s race to 175 GW,” said Aditya Lolla, senior power policy analyst at Ember. “Solar and wind power deployments need a big boost in the coming months to bring India closer to this goal.”

Solar power needs 85% growth in the next nine months to reach its 100GW target by the end of 2022. Wind power needs nearly 50% growth in the next three quarters to reach the 60GW target.

India is targeting 450 GW of renewables and 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030. With 110 GW already installed, the nation needs to deploy 340 GW of new renewable power capacity (on average 42.5 GW of renewables annually over the next eight years) to meet the 2030 target. The country’s solar capacity would need to quintuple from 54 GW to 280 GW and wind power to quadruple from 40 GW to 140 GW during this period. This translates to 29 GW of new solar capacity and 12.5 GW of new wind capacity each year on average through the end of this decade, a much faster pace than the country’s record annual addition of 15 GW RE (14 GW of solar power and 1 GW of wind power). ) in fiscal year 2021-22.

The report says that it is more than possible for India to meet its 2030 targets of 450 GW RE or 500 GW of non-fossil capacity if all states are fully committed to and aligned with national targets.