India's Surging Renewable Energy Sector

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- Anurag Garg

Based upon ambitious targets in renewables, India is increasing its total installed capacity in solar and wind energy via higher investments and research collaborations. Since assuming office in May 2014, the NDA Government has set ambitious targets in the power sector and the renewables segment. Presently, India has the fifth-largest power generation portfolio, with an installed capacity of 304.7 GW in July 2016. It is also the fourth-largest wind energy producer in terms of installed capacity, following China, the U.S. and Germany. The country now targets 175 GW of capacity from renewables by 2022, of which 60 GW will come from wind energy.

Besides solar, wind energy plays an important role in India’s power plans. At present, India’s total wind power installed capacity is about 27 GW, which accounts for around nine percent of the country’s total installed capacity. This will rise by 4,300 MW in 2016-17 and is set to grow 30 percent annually, with most capacity additions by Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, among others. Before this, the highest capacity addition in wind happened in 2015-16, when 3,300 MW was installed a growth of 43 percent over the previous year and a record until then.

Unprecedented Growth