India prepares to ramp up clean energy capacity

By Anders Lorenzen

Tenders for 250 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy by 2028 are set to be unveiled by the Indian government, according to a government memo.

The fast-growing Asian economic powerhouse is predicted to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in the coming years. India is looking to cut its emissions by 45% from 2005 levels by 2028. India missed its target to install 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, and is now trying to make up for that by boosting solar, wind, nuclear, hydropower and bio-power to 500 GW by 2030.

Excluding big hydro and nuclear power, India has 122 GW of renewable energy installed capacity and 175 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity as of the end of February, according to government data.

Hungry for energy

Due to rapid growth, the country is hungry for new energy capacity and will issue tenders to install 15 GW of renewable energy in both of the first two quarters of this fiscal year which ends in March 2024. This is to be followed by bids for 10 GW in the next two quarters.

Overall, India is also looking to boost its share of non-fossil capacity, which can include big hydro and nuclear to 50% by 2030. Currently, it is at 42.6 %.

Wind power is set to play a key part in the target of 50 GW of new green energy tenders each year at 10 GW.

While coal is still king in India and has grown slightly from 72.3% in 2019 to 72.8% in 2022, the share of renewables has taken a huge leap forward in the same period from 9.4% to 11.6.  India’s rate of renewable energy installation is the second-fastest in the Asia-Pacific region, only beaten by China. 

Coal currently accounts for over half of India’s 412.2 GW of electricity generation capacity, while solar makes up half of the installed renewable energy capacity and wind power one-third.