Comments
Amid some continuing challenges for developers, there is cheer on the renewable energy front as the new capacity addition during the first quarter of this fiscal hit a historic high.
During April-June 2021 period, the renewable energy sector added new capacity of 2,522 MW, which is reported to be the highest-ever quarterly addition in the sector. The previous highest was during April-June 2019 period when it added 2151 MW. In the year-ago period, which was hit by an all-India lockdown, the segment added just 592 MW of capacity.
Solar continues to be the major driver of new capacity as the segment added 2,249 MW during Q1 of this fiscal, while the wind power segment added 240 MW.
The increase in new capacity addition comes at a time the government is trying to facilitate faster capacity addition as it has set an ambitious target of 175 GW to be achieved by the end of 2022.
As of June 30, 2021, the total grid-connected capacity of renewables stood 96.96 GW. Of this, the solar power segment accounts for 42.33 GW, followed by wind power at 39.49 GW and bio power at 10.34 GW. Small hydro segment accounted for 4.79 GW.
Meanwhile, a capacity of 50.35 GW (includes about 37 GW of solar and 9 GW of wind) is under various stages of implementation and a capacity of 25.16 GW is under various stages of bidding. Therefore, a total of 172.46 GW capacity has either been installed or is under various stages of implementation/ bidding, according to information provided by R K Singh, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
More time
He also said that considering the disruption caused by Covid-19, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has given a time extension of up to seven and half months to renewable energy projects being implemented by agencies under various schemes of MNRE.
The latest CEO survey of Bridge to India, a solar energy consulting firm, pointed out that the market sentiment was extremely optimistic. In fact, there is sharp improvement over last year despite some teething operational and financial challenges.
The major concerns raised by the stakeholders include inconsistent policies, basic customs duty, unsigned PPAs and poor centre-state coordination, among others.
“The industry mood is surprisingly upbeat, buoyed perhaps by the huge government targets and strong investor appetite. But views on capacity addition and most policy initiatives as well as operational issues are more mixed. The biggest concern rightly is the terrible financial condition of our discoms,” said Vinay Rustagi, Managing Director, Bridge to India.
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are rated as the top 5 States for the overall growth prospects of renewable power projects. States were ranked on parameters like power demand, land and transmission availability, ease of doing business, policy framework and discom financial status.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.