Commending India’s role in accelerating the clean energy transition, the Minister of New & Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday that even as coal production increased by 76 per cent over the past 10 years, ending 2024, the capacity expansion of renewable energy sources soared by 165 per cent.
“Not only economically, India is also at the forefront of the admiration and accolades for promoting a greener economy,” Joshi said in his address at an event organised by BloombergNEF (BNEF).
The Minister emphasised that India has established a competitive industry structure in renewables, with the cost of solar power among the lowest in India, which due to the country’s abundance of sunny days.
“In the last 10 years, India’s overall coal production increased by 76 per cent from 566 million tonnes (mt) to 997 mt. Whereas, our installed renewable energy capacity grew by 165 per cent over the same period, from 75.52 gigawatts (GW) to more than 203 GW now,” he noted.
The total RE generation in India rose from 193.50 billion units (BU) to 360 BU in FY24, an 86 per cent increase.
“So, under PM Modiji, we have not only generated electricity at cheaper rates but also brought the tariffs down by 76 per cent for grid-connected solar power plants (from ₹10.95 per unit during FY11 to ₹2.60 in FY24),” Joshi said.
The key to the decarbonisation of India’s electricity sector lies in meeting all incremental demand from non-fossil sources. For this to happen, success in creating large-scale grid storage is essential, the Minister emphasised.
“So we are indeed progressing steadily towards a green economy. And in our pursuit, we need support from all stakeholders,” Joshi stressed.