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India Pursues Ambitious Solar Goals Despite Pandemic’s Impact
India has one of the world’s most aggressive solar development targets. The country’s leaders have said they want to install 450 GW of renewable power generation capacity by 2030, a figure that would amount to about 55% of the total electricity capacity the country has estimated it will need by the end of the decade.
Government data showed India had just more than 94 GW of renewable generation capacity installed as of the end of March 2021, about 25% of the country’s total capacity. A recent report from Mercom India, part of Mercom Capital Group, said that at the end of March 2021 cumulative solar installations accounted for 41 GW of generation capacity, with 35.5 GW from large-scale projects, and the rest from rooftop solar. The group said India’s large-scale solar project development pipeline stands at 53.6 GW, and there also were 24.1 GW of projects tendered and pending auction at the end of the first quarter this year. The group said solar installations accounted for 33% of all power capacity added in the first three months of this year, and said renewables as a whole, including wind and hydro, made up close to 50% of capacity additions in the quarter.