Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 14 2022

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

India’s 175-GW

renewables goal by 2022

increasingly doubtful

INDIA IN 2018, India’s Central Electricity Authority renewable sources.
made waves across the country and around the This decision led to years of legal action as
region by setting itself the ambitious goal of gen- the state looked to overturn existing agree-
erating 175 GW of renewable capacity by the ments, and confusion for potential developers
end of this year, 2022, a number New Delhi at as to whether or not investment in the state was
the time predicted would increase to 450 GW by worth the initial, substantial, outlay.
2030. A recent decision in the state at a local high
Then last November, India made more than court has, however, backed power developers
a few headlines at COP26 in Glasgow when it that have long been held in a form of limbo as
assured the world that the subcontinent would to whether to push ahead with projects or just
increase its non-fossil fuel-based capacity to 500 close them down, although reports indicate that
GW by the end of the decade; in the process, no decision has been made on a possible appeal
New Delhi claimed, meeting half of the nation’s by government authorities.
energy needs, and, in due course by 2070, India And such delays are not limited to Andhra
would achieve net-zero emission status. Pradesh.
And then the wheels came off. Speaking on the legal issues and subsequent
In the months since the much-lauded claims delays faced by many solar and wind develop-
in Glasgow the silence has been deafening in ers across India, Pinaki Bhattacharyya, chief
New Delhi when asking government officials to executive officer of solar energy developer Amp
go on record about long-rumoured renewables Energy India, said: “The main reason that we
shortfalls. have fallen behind the target is that there have
At present, even the best estimates have India been too many policy changes. This is a business
likely falling well short of the 175-GW goal come where you have to make most of the investment
December. upfront. If there’s a policy change that impacts
160 GW of that goal, according to the Min- the cost, that is something that will slow down
istry of Power in New Delhi, will be made up of the sector.”
a combination of solar and wind installations Yet such policy changes in India are report-
around the country, but some estimates put edly all too common.
India at falling 36% short of even that figure. Tariffs on foreign made solar cells and mod-
This reality on the ground in India only pushes ules have been in place since 2019, but have
the 175-GW total by the end of the calendar year been repeatedly amended and delayed, leading
even further out of sight. to a number of investors pulling out of possible
With the nation’s Ministry of Power now projects across the country – most notably this
seeming to turn a deaf ear to requests for com- year seen in a decision by Scatec of Norway to at
ment by regional analysts and media, sprawl- least temporarily stop development of projects
ing national and state infrastructure is coming totalling 900 MW on the back of a government
under the spotlight yet again as one of the lead- decision to impose 40% tariffs on imported cells
ing causes for issues facing further expansion of from this month, and limited local supply of the
green-backed capacity installations. same.
Nowhere is this better epitomised than in Until the goalposts stop moving every few
the state of Andhra Pradesh in south-east India, months, the numbers promised by New Delhi
where in 2019 the state government decided it will remain out of reach.™
was paying too much for energy coming from

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