Renewable Energy 2019: India Sees Massive Growth in Sector
Before setting a roadmap for 2020, reviewing the renewable energy market’s performance in 2019 will serve as a useful tool going forward. Trying to adhere to India’s ambitious target of establishing 175 GW renewable energy capacity in the country by 2022 seems like a herculean task. After the sector’s performance in 2019, however, this target seems closer to being realized than ever before.
According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), renewable energy capacity in India reached around 84.4 GW by the end of 2019. Of this, the share of solar power is 32.53 GW; wind power is 37.28 GW; bio energy is 9.94 GW; and small hydro is 4.65 GW respectively. Wind-solar hybrid projects have 1.44 GW capacity that is under implementation and more is being tendered as we speak.
Here is an overview of some initiatives in renewable energy that were undertaken in India in 2019:
- Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Power Parks (UMREPPs)
The MNRE has come up with a scheme called Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Power Parks (UMREPPs) which is a subset of the Solar Park Scheme. MNRE, along with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and few other entities have proposed to establish around 42 GW of UMREPP in the country. Ease of land acquisition and access to transmission infrastructure to set up solar, wind and hybrid projects, is the focus through this scheme.
- Grid Connected Rooftop Solar (RTS) Program
Out of the 175 GW renewable energy capacity target, 100 GW is from solar power, out of which 40 GW projects will be from rooftop solar (RTS) installations. Phase two of the grid connected RTS program was approved in 2019 with a target of establishing 40 GW RTS projects by 2022. DISCOMs implementing projects; and subsidies for the residential sector, are few characteristics of phase two of this initiative.
- Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) Manufacturing
To encourage Make in India, the Government of India (GoI) has come up with a scheme to set up solar projects using domestically manufactured SPV cells and modules.
Apart from these, Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) phase two will witness 66.5 GW renewable energy projects being realized. The Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme was also approved in March, 2019. This scheme considers renewable energy projects up to 2 MW, as well as distributed solar power projects. The aim of this scheme is to also set up 25,750 MW added solar power capacity by 2022. Wind-solar hybrid projects, offshore wind power and energy storage were also some sectors that grew significantly in the year gone by. Considering the multiple government initiatives, sector wise growth, new capacity addition, and considerable investment that occurred in the year 2019, the renewable energy industry is poised to grow in the year ahead.
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