Renewable energy in India

Solar Power Plant Telangana II in state of Telangana, India.
India renewable electricity production by source.

India is the world's 3rd largest consumer of electricity and the world's 3rd largest renewable energy producer with 40% of energy capacity installed in the year 2022 (160 GW of 400 GW) coming from renewable sources.[1][2] Ernst & Young's (EY) 2021 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) ranked India 3rd behind USA and China.[3][4] In FY2023-24, India is planning to issue 50 GW tenders for wind, solar and hybrid projects.[5] India has committed for a goal of 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030.[6]

In 2016, Paris Agreement's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions targets, India made commitment of producing 50% of its total electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.[7][8] In 2018, India's Central Electricity Authority set a target of producing 50% of the total electricity from non-fossil fuels sources by 2030.[9] India has also set a target of producing 175 GW by 2022 and 500 GW by 2030 from renewable energy.[10][9][11][12]

As of September 2024, 89.22 GW solar energy is already operational, projects of 48.21 GW are at various stages of implementation and projects of 25.64 GW capacity are under various stages of bidding.[13] In 2020, 3 of the world's top 5 largest solar parks were in India including world's largest 2255 MW Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan and world's second-largest solar park of 2000 MW Pavgada Solar Park Tumkur in Karnataka and 1000 MW Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.[14] Wind power in India has a strong manufacturing base with 20 manufactures of 53 different wind turbine models of international quality up to 3 MW in size with exports to Europe, United States and other countries.[13]

Solar, wind and run-of-the-river hydroelectricity are environment-friendly cheaper power sources they are used as "must-run" sources in India to cater for the base load, and the polluting and foreign-import dependent coal-fired power is increasingly being moved from the "must-run base load" power generation to the load following power generation (mid-priced and mid-merit on-demand need-based intermittently-produced electricity) to meet the peaking demand only.[15] Some of the daily peak demand in India is already met with the renewable peaking hydro power capacity. Solar and wind power with 4-hour battery storage systems, as a source of dispatchable generation compared with new coal and new gas plants, is already cost-competitive in India without subsidy.[16]

India initiated the International Solar Alliance (ISA), an alliance of 121 countries. India was world's first country to set up a ministry of non-conventional energy resources (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)) in early 1980s . Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a public sector undertaking, is responsible for the development of solar energy industry in India. Hydroelectricity is administered separately by the Ministry of Power and not included in MNRE targets.

  1. ^ "2021 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI)". www.ey.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  2. ^ Koundal, Aarushi (26 November 2020). "India's renewable power capacity is the fourth largest in the world, says PM Modi". ETEnergyworld. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  3. ^ 2019 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) Archived 20 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Ernst & Young, 2021.
  4. ^ "Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Government to Bid Out 50 GW of Solar, Wind, and RTC Projects in FY24". Mercom India. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  6. ^ "India's 450 GW renewable energy goal by 2030 doable, says John Kerry". The Hindu. PTI. 20 October 2021. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Here are India's INDC objectives and how much it will cost". The Indian Express. 2 October 2015. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  8. ^ "INDC submission" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  9. ^ a b Safi, Michael (22 December 2016). "India plans nearly 60% of electricity capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2027". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference new1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference mnreRenewableBreakup was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Physical Progress (Achievements)". Archived from the original on 3 May 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Press Information Bureau". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  14. ^ "With 2245 MW of Commissioned Solar Projects, World's Largest Solar Park is Now at Bhadl". 19 March 2020. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Infographic: Illustrative curve for change in PLF of coal plants". Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  16. ^ "Solar and wind now the cheapest power source says Bloomberg NEF". Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2018.