Renewables capacity crosses 60GW

In a significant development, India’s total renewable energy capacity crossed 60,000 MW in the September quarter.

The country added 10,000 MW in the last nine months; the cumulative clean energy capacity had crossed 50,000 MW in the December quarter last year.

However, capacity addition during the current fiscal has been lower when compared to the previous year.

During the first six months of this fiscal, the total capacity added stood at 2,913 MW against 3,164 MW in the year-ago period.

While the wind power sector is struggling for capacity addition, solar segment continues to maintain momentum.

Of the 2,913 MW capacity added this fiscal, solar power accounted for 2,349 MW, followed by wind at 421 MW, according to the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

As on September 30, 2017, the total grid-connected installed renewable power capacity in India stood at 60,158 MW.

Out of this, wind power’s total capacity was 32,701 MW. Solar ground-mounted segment’s capacity was 13,982 MW, while rooftop category had a capacity of 790 MW.

Bio-power segment had a total capacity of 8,182 MW, while small hydro and waste-to-power accounted for 4,390 MW and 114 MW, respectively.

MNRE has fixed a total capacity addition target of 14,550 MW for the renewable sector this fiscal. Only a fifth of the capacity addition target has been met during the first half. However, recent trends indicate that the bulk of the new capacity addition comes only during the second half.

As per MNRE’s capacity addition targets, solar power is expected to add 10,000 MW and wind is to bring in a new capacity of 4,000 MW.

Other segments are to add the remaining portion. The Central government has planned to facilitate faster capacity addition in the wind sector through an auction of 4,500 MW of projects.

According to Bridge to India, a global solar energy consulting firm, India’s total installed capacity of solar power is expected to reach 20,000 MW by the end of this fiscal.

“About 10,000 MW of capacity was allocated to developers was in various stages of development,” it said.