India has declared the trajectory of bidding 60 gigawatt (GW) capacity of solar energy and 20 GW capacity of wind energy by March 2020, leaving two years time for execution of projects, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said.
A total of about 73.35 GW renewable energy capacity has been installed in the country as of October, 2018, from all renewable energy sources.
This includes about 34.98 GW from wind, 24.33 GW from solar, 4.5 GW from small hydro power, and 9.54 GW from bio-power. Further, projects worth 46.75 GW capacity have been bid out under installation.
According to the Paris accord on climate change, India had pledged that by 2030 40 per cent of installed power generation capacity shall be based on clean sources. And determined that 175 GW of renewable energy capacity to be installed by 2022. This includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro power.
India has fifth global position for overall installed renewable energy capacity, fourth position for wind power and fifth position for solar power.
The country registered lowest ever solar tariffs in India of Rs 2.44 per unit in reverse auctions carried out by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in May 2017, for 200 megawatt (MW) and again in July, 2018, for 600 MW.
It also registered lowest ever wind tariff of Rs 2.43 per unit in a tender of 500 MW project by Gujarat government in December 2017.
The cumulative renewable energy installed capacity has increased from 35.51 GW as of 31 March 2014 to 73.35 GW as of 31st October 2018 (an increase of about 106 per cent).
The capacity addition of over 37.84 GW grid connected renewable power has been achieved during the last four-and-a-half years, which includes 21.7 GW from solar power, 13.98 GW from wind power, 0.7 GW from small hydro power and 1.5 GW from bio-power.
