The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has now set its sights on 'over achieving' the target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. According to the Ministry's projections, India will have 225 GW of installed renewable energy by 2022.
Speaking at a press conference to highlight the achievements of his ministries, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and Renewable Energy, R K Singh said, “The target for 175 GW renewable energy capacity addition is not being revised, we will be ‘over achieving’ the target.”
Singh’s comments came after Secretary, Ministry of Renewable Energy, Anand Kumar, highlighted the trajectory of clean energy capacity addition as projected by the government. He said, “During financial year 2018-2019, 61 GW of renewable energy capacity will be bid out. Another 56 GW will be bid out during financial year 2019-2020. Till now, 70.03 GW of renewable energy capacity has been commissioned, 15.5 GW is under implementation and 25.1 GW has been tendered.”
Pointing out the achievement of his ministries, Singh said, “Solar energy capacity has grown by nine times, while the wind energy capacity is up by 1.5 times in the last four years.”
Singh also said the proposed tariff policy will ensure that a penalty is levied on the power distribution company (DISCOM) for gratuitous load shedding. He said, “The new tariff policy will be enforced from the next financial year (2019-2020). This is because a new tariff schedule is always implemented from the next financial year. So, any load shedding by the DISCOM after March 2019 will invite a penalty.”
Singh said the quantum of penalty to be borne will be decided by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. Singh also said the SERCs will review whether a DISCOM has sufficient power supply assurances every two years and maintain enforceability of power purchase agreements.