India’s solar power generation capacity has now surpassed the 70 GW mark and an additional 55.90 GW capacity is under installation.
Replying to a question in the Parliament last week, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh said that the total solar power capacity installed in the country as on 30 June 2023 stands at 70.10 GW, with Rajasthan having the highest installed base of 17.83 GW.
The top seven states in terms of highest installed capacity include Rajasthan (17.83GW), Gujarat (10.13 GW), Karnataka (9.05 GW), Tamil Nadu (6.89 GW), Maharashtra (4.87 GW), Telangana (4.69 GW) and Andhra Pradesh (4.55 GW).
However, all major northern states have fared badly with Madhya Pradesh contributing only 3,021 MW and Uttar Pradesh’s share at 2,526 MW.
Punjab’s contribution stands at 1,190 MW, Haryana contributes 1,106 MW, Chhattisgarh contributes 962 MW, and Bihar contributes a mere 203 MW solar capacity.
Falling Behind Target
The 70 GW installed base is a major milestone in India’s journey towards generating 500 GW from renewable energy by 2030, of which 300 GW is expected to come from solar power.
However, the 70 GW capacity is still far behind the Government’s target of achieving 100 GW of solar power installed capacity in the country by the year 2022.
India was to have installed 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by December 2022, which included 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power. However, a renewable energy capacity of 120.90 GW was installed in the country as of 31 December 2022, which is about 69 per cent of the overall target.
A parliamentary panel in its report attributed low installation of solar roof-top as key reasons for the shortfall in achieving India’s renewable energy capacity target of 175 GW by 2022.
“Keeping in view the fact that renewable energy installed capacity has increased by more than 236 per cent since 2014, this is indeed a commendable achievement. However, it should also be mentioned that whatever shortfall has occurred in achievement of the target that is because of low installation of solar roof-tops and wind energy projects,” the committee said.
The committee in its report asked the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to monitor the implementation of the rooftop solar projects and ensure adherence to the prescribed timeline for their commissioning so that renewable energy projects do not get unduly delayed.