The country’s renewable energy sector has ended FY23 with its highest-ever annual new capacity addition with the solar segment bringing about 84 per cent of the new capacity.
In FY23, the total new capacity addition stood at 15,274 MW when compared with 14,077 MW in FY22.
The solar power segment added a total new capacity of 12,784 MW (including all categories such as ground-mounted, rooftop, hybrid solar, and off-grid) when compared with the 12,761 MW added in FY22, according to the data provided by the Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.
While solar installations decreased by 8 per cent, there was a significant increase in wind power capacity addition. The wind sector added about 2,276 MW of new capacity when compared with 1,111 MW added in FY22, an increase of 105 per cent.
State-wise installations
In terms of State-wise installations, Rajasthan (2,532 MW), Tamil Nadu (1,606 MW), and Maharashtra (1,363 MW) were the leading States with maximum large-scale solar installations in FY23, according to JMK Research.
In the utility-scale solar segment, about 8,009 MW of new capacity was added in India which was around 21 per cent lower than the FY22 installations of 10,148 MW.
The rooftop category added 2,232 MW in FY23 when compared with 2,206 MW in FY22. Gujarat installed the maximum rooftop solar capacity of 687 MW during FY23 followed by Maharashtra (547 MW) and Kerala (266 MW).
In the off-grid/distributed solar segment, about 836 MW was added, about 46 per cent lower than the FY22 installations.
In wind power capacity addition, Rajasthan was the leading State that installed a new capacity of 867 MW, followed by Gujarat (770 MW) and Madhya Pradesh (324 MW).
Leader in the wind energy sector Tamil Nadu added only 151 MW of new capacity during FY23. But the fiscal that ended on March 31, 2022, saw the State’s cumulative wind power installations cross 10,000 MW, the first State to achieve this milestone.
As of March 31, 2023, Rajasthan was the number one State in total renewable capacity with an installed capacity of 22,398 MW, followed by Gujarat (19,436 MW), Tamil Nadu (17,920 MW), Karnataka (16,719 MW) and Maharashtra (12,757).
Cumulative installations
In terms of cumulative installations in the country, the total grid-connected capacity of renewables stood at 125.2 GW as of March 31, 2023.
Of the total capacity, the solar power segment accounted for 67 GW (including 54 GW of ground-mounted capacity), followed by wind power at 43 GW, and bio-power at 10.2 GW. The small hydro segment accounted for 4.9 GW.
The Indian government aims to achieve half of its electric power capacity to come from non-fossil-fuel-based energy sources by 2030.
Announcing its bidding trajectory for renewable energy projects recently, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said bids for RE capacity of 50 GW per annum, with at least 10 GW per annum of wind energy capacity are to be issued each year from FY24 to FY28.
In this fiscal, it plans to issue bids for 15 GW capacity each in Q1 and Q2 and 10 GW each in Q3 and Q4.
A recent report by S&P Global Ratings said that India needs $540 billion of investment between 2020 and 2029 to meet its ambitious targets for electricity generation from renewable sources.