The renewable energy sector’s new capacity addition during the first quarter of this fiscal was higher at 2,151 MW when compared with the capacity addition of 1,541 MW in the year-ago quarter.

Also, the June quarter of this fiscal saw total installed capacity of the Indian renewable sector cross 80 GW (80,000 MW), according to the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) data.

The solar power sector continues to be the major driver of new capacity growth in the clean energy segment with a share of 1,369 MW (including 1,115 MW of ground-mounted and 254 MW of rooftop capacities) during April-June 2019 period. However, this capacity addition was marginally lower when compared with 1,371 MW of capacity achieved in the year-ago period.

Wind power

In a sign of some improvements in the sector, wind power segment added about 743 MW of new capacity when compared with 148 MW during Q1 of previous fiscal.

As on June 30, 2019, total grid-connected installed renewable power capacity in India stood at 80,467 MW (71,325 MW in Q1 of last year)

The cumulative capacity of wind power stood at 36,368 MW. The solar segment is in the second position with a total capacity of 29,549 MW (includes both ground-mounted and rooftop).

Biomass (both bagasse co-generation and non-bagasse co-generation) segment had a total capacity of 9,806 MW. Small hydro and waste-to-power accounted for 4,605 MW and 138 MW, respectively.

The MNRE has fixed a total capacity addition target of 11,802 MW for 2019-20 (15,602 MW was fixed as a target in 2018-19) and solar is expected to be the highest contributor with about 8,500 MW (ground-mounted 7,500 MW and rooftop 1,000 MW) of new capacity, followed by wind (3,000 MW), biomass (250 MW) and small hydro (50 MW).

Among the States, Karnataka, driven by the solar power sector, continues to be the leader in the renewable sector with a total installed capacity of 13,943 MW, followed by Tamil Nadu (13,142 MW), Maharashtra (9,342 MW), Gujarat (9,324 MW), Andhra Pradesh (8,062 MW) and Rajasthan (7,998 MW).

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