India witnessed the highest growth in renewable energy (RE) capacity addition among all global economies in the last 7.5 years, with RE capacity growing by 2.9 times, while solar energy surged by more than 18 times, the Survey said. “India has witnessed the fastest rate of growth in renewable energy capacity addition among all large economies, during the last 7.5 years with renewable energy capacity growing by 2.9 times and solar energy expanding by over 18 times,” it said. Renewable energy (excluding large hydro) constitutes over 24.71 per cent of the country’s installed power capacity and around 10.7 per cent of the electrical energy generation for 2020-21. As of October 2021, India’s total RE installed capacity (excluding hydro power above 25 MW) has reached over 103.05 giga watts (GW), it added. During the last 7.5 years, if large hydro is included, the share of RE in electric installed capacity is estimated to be about 38.27 per cent (as of October 2021) and its share in electric energy generation is estimated to be about 26.96 per cent (for the month of August 2021). “The difference in the share of renewable energy in installed capacity and electricity generation is because of the variability in the sunshine hours or extent of wind which in turn will determine the utilisation of the installed capacity,” Economic Survey pointed out. To boost the use of RE and. To facilitate its evacuation and reshaping the grid for future requirements, the government initiates the Green Energy Corridor (GEC) projects. This is aimed at synchronising electricity produced from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, with conventional power stations in the grid. “The first component of the scheme, Inter-state GEC with target capacity of 3200 circuit kilometer (ckm) transmission lines and 17,000 MVA capacity sub-stations, was completed in March 2020. The second component - Intra-state GEC with a target capacity of 9700 ckm transmission lines and 22,600 MVA capacity sub-stations is expected to be completed by June 2022,” the survey report added. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme to promote RE in the farm sector, over 77,000 stand-alone solar pumps, 25.25 megawatt (MW) capacity solar power plants and over 1,026 pumps were solarised as of December, 2021. Under the development of solar parks and ultra mega solar power projects programme, with a target capacity of 40 GW by March 2024, 50 solar parks have been sanctioned with a combined capacity of 33.82 GW in 14 states. Solar power projects of an aggregate capacity of around 9.2 GW have already been commissioned in these parks. A scheme for setting up 12 GW grid-connected solar PV power projects by government entities (including Central Public Sector Undertakings) is under implementation. Viability Gap Funding support is provided under this scheme. Under this scheme, the government has so far sanctioned around 8.2 GW of projects. Besides, the government has notified the offshore Wind Energy Policy to harness the potential of offshore wind energy along India’s coastline. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is developing a strategy and roadmap for installation of offshore wind projects off the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. As of December 2021, capacity of around 4.25 GW of wind-solar hybrids have been awarded, out of which 0.2 GW is already commissioned and additional capacity of 1.2 GW wind-solar hybrid projects are at various stages of bidding. At present, thermal sources of energy make the largest – 61.42 per cent — share of total installed capacity in utilities followed by RE resources at 24.7 per cent and hydro by 12.09 per cent. The total electricity generated including that from captive plants during 2020-21 was 15.73 lakh gigawatt hours (GWh), of which 13.73 lakh GWh was generated by utilities and 2 lakh GWh in captive plants. It is lower than the generation of 16.23 lakh GWh during 2019-20. Between 2020-21 and 2019-20, the maximum rise in electricity generation was recorded in diesel based thermal energy for utilities and RE sources for captive plants. Overall, due to pandemic led disruptions in economic activity, electricity generation was lower in the year 2020-21 which is now expected to increase with the recovery of the economy, the survey said.