The Central Government narrowly missed its target of 50 GW for annual renewable energy tendering in 2023-24.
A year ago, India’s government announced plans to seek bids for 50 GW of renewable energy capacity each year for five years, from FY24 to FY28. These bids, for Inter-State Transmission (ISIS)-connected renewable energy capacity, also include establishing at least 10 GW of wind power annually.
The Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), R K Singh, indicated that the targeted bid capacity for FY24 would be divided among four renewable energy implementing agencies (REIAs) – NTPC, NHPC, SECI, and SVJN. These agencies could issue bids for solar, wind, solar-wind hybrid, RTC RE power, etc., with or without storage, based on their assessment of the renewable energy market or government directives.
In FY24, the designated REIAs announced tenders for 47.5 GW (out of 50 GW) of renewable energy capacity, with vanilla solar and wind comprising 28% and 15%, respectively. Innovative procurement formats made up 57% of the total, according to a report by the CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF).
The REIAs met about 95% of the bidding trajectory target for FY24, achieving approximately 74% (7.35 GW) of the 10 GW target for wind tenders. About 27 GW (46.9%) of the bids were successfully auctioned in the same year.
“Bids of 47.5 GW issued are roughly three times the renewable energy capacity added annually in recent years,” said Gagan Sidhu, Director, CEEW-CEF.
In FY24, the auctioned renewable energy capacity reached 40.56 GW, with plain vanilla solar and wind contributing 24.36 GW (60%) and 1.25 GW (3%), respectively. About 37% (14.95 GW) of the auctioned capacity came from innovative power procurement formats, while tenders with storage components reached 8.16 GW (20%).
Given that it typically takes 18-24 months to commission renewable energy (RE) projects, the proposed annual bidding strategy aims to add 250 GW of capacity, leading to a total installed RE capacity of 500 GW by 2030.
As of March 31, 2023, India’s total renewable energy capacity was 191 GW, which included 82 GW of solar power, 52 GW of hydro power (including both small and large capacities), 46 GW of wind power, and 11 GW of biomass.