India unlikely to meet 175 GW renewable energy target by year-end

India is unlikely to achieve 175 GW of renewable capacity by the end of this year. As per the data released by the Union Ministry for Renewable Energy, only four states — Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan and Karnataka — have either achieved their target or surpassed it at the end of August.

Four states — Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh — account for the majority of the shortfall.

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TN short of its target

Tamil Nadu saw a little more than 1 GW RE addition in 2022 so far, almost all of which came from solar. Despite having the third highest installed renewable energy capacity in India, it is still about 4 GW short of its December target.

Solar represented 89% of new renewable capacity installations this year. Wind installations only rose by 7% compared to last year, now representing only 10% of all new renewables (RE) installations so far this year.

Overall renewable installations also slowed down considerably from April, in part due to an increase in basic customs duty. By July, India saw the lowest level of new installations since June 2020, before picking up in August.

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Rajasthan, Gujarat power ahead

An analysis by an NGO named Ember highlights four states that have now met their 2022 renewable capacity targets. Gujarat is the latest state to meet its target, surpassing its target in May and joining Telangana, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Rajasthan overtook Gujarat in March with the most installed RE.

Rajasthan and Gujarat are powering India’s transition. In the first eight months of 2022, 49% of India’s new solar capacity was built in Rajasthan and 63% of India’s new wind was built in Gujarat.

The analysis also shows that as of August 2022, India has installed 66% of its renewable energy target to achieve 175 GW by December 2022.

The four lagging behind

Just four states account for 61% of the current shortfall (58 GW) to the December target – Maharashtra (11.1 GW), Uttar Pradesh (9.7 GW), Andhra Pradesh (9.2 GW), and Madhya Pradesh (6.5 GW).

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While India may not reach the 175 GW target by the end of this year, its 2030 targets of 450 GW renewables and 500 GW non-fossil capacity are well within reach. However, it would require key states to seize the opportunity and address the barriers to renewables uptake to accelerate their renewables deployment and contribute to the success of the national clean energy transition.

India’s renewables future is exciting, but it needs more national and local government focus to make it happen, said the analysis.

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