India’s aim to achieve 500GW renewable energy by 2030 faces several obstacles with global challenges, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, adding to the worries, says Satheesh Kumar, chairman of Enzen Global Solutions Pvt Ltd, an energy and water management solution provider.  “India has a set of local hurdles to cross and sustain momentum,” Kumar said in an email interview. “In fact, across sectors, India will fall below the 2022 target of 175 GW of RE. Wind power and ground-mount solar are between 65 per cent and 75 per cent of their 2022 targets, while rooftop solar is only at about one-fourth of its target. These are in addition to the global challenges in the supply chain during the last two years and the increased commodity prices this year, which are likely to impact global RE growth in the near term, he said.  Capacity addition According to an International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast, more than 95 per cent of new capacity addition between 2021 and 2026 will be renewable. The forecast is for commitments at the country level, which have gone up in recent years. The global RE capacity may account for only 20 per cent of energy consumption, but, recently, more than 75 per cent of new global capacity addition has been renewable. Reasons for poor adoption in the rooftop sector range from poor access to capital, lack of awareness among residential and commercial building owners, and regulatory uncertainty, Kumar said. The uncertainty over the net metering policy has slowed adoption among businesses last year. In the residential sector, a lack of transparency and information on subsidies is holding back large-scale deployment. No good networks “There is still a dearth of a network of quality residential-scale solar rooftop installers,” Kumar said. While the initial momentum in adoption of rooftop solar on government buildings was high, it has considerably slowed. Likewise, mandating rooftop solar as part of building codes and access to capital — NBFCs fund projects — with regulatory certainty will greatly aid adoption of rooftop solar, he added.  India had announced at COP26 that it would set an RE target of 500GW by 2030, in a big leap from the previous target of 175GW RE by 2022. There is a significant pipeline for ground-mount projects. But an increase in commodity prices, access to power evacuation, land availability, and delayed payments from DISCOMs were major challenges for project developers, who operate on thin margins while trying to be price-competitive. Project delays “Many RE projects have reported delays in receiving payment from DISCOMs, ranging from 6-18 months,” Kumar said. Similar issues relating to power evacuation and delayed DISCOM payment impact the wind sector too. “A good sign, though, is the recent interest in bundling solar and wind power projects through a hybrid project tariff. Other RE projects like hydropower and biomass, which have significant potential, are not getting the required prominence,” he said. While there are challenges in the sector, there are equally opportunities like floating solar, which doesn’t have a defined government target but has significant potential and can circumvent issues related to land availability, he said.