Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 18 2022
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AsiaElec TARGETS AsiaElec
India unlikely to
meet 175-GW green
target in 2022
INDIA INDIA will probably fail to meet its 175-GW between October 2021 and March 2022.
renewable energy target for the end of 2022, “India’s renewables journey is gaining
although it could still reach 450GW by 2030. momentum. Although India may fall short of
At present, 27 of the country’s states need its 2022 RE target of 175 GW without including
to accelerate their green additions if the coun- large hydro, it is more than possible for India to
try as a whole is to raise its green capacity from deliver on its 2030 targets of 450 GW RE or 500
110 GW at the end of March to 175 GW by GW non-fossil capacity. But that would need all
December. the states to be fully engaged and aligned with
Only four have so far surpassed the 2022 the national targets.,” said Aditya Lolla, senior
targets set by the Ministry of New and Renew- electricity policy analyst, Ember Asia.
able Energy, according to a briefing from green India’s coal phasedown commitment at
think-tank Ember. COP26 makes delivering its renewable energy
Six of the country’s largest consuming states (RE) targets critical.
are below 50% of their targets. These include: India’s electricity demand is expected to see
Maharashtra (48%); Uttar Pradesh (32%); an average annual growth rate of 4-5% till 2030.
Madhya Pradesh (46%); Andhra Pradesh (50%); Unless India builds enough green capacity to
Punjab (35%) and Haryana (28%). meet this new demand, the country’s coal gen-
Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Anda- eration will continue to increase, Ember warned.
man & Nicobar have surpassed their targets If India delivers on the target of 450 GW of
while Gujarat (97%) and Tamil Nadu (75%) are green capacity by 2030, it can keep its coal gener-
moving closer. ation from rising from the current levels.
Five states account for two-thirds of the But to meet this, India cannot afford to slip
shortfall. They are: Maharashtra (11 GW); Uttar on its more immediate target of 175 GW RE
Pradesh (10 GW); Andhra Pradesh (9 GW); (excluding large hydro) by 2022. This target is
Madhya Pradesh (7 GW) and Tamil Nadu split between 100 GW of solar, 60 GW of wind,
(5 GW). Indeed, four of these five states have 10 GW of biopower and 5 GW of small hydro
installed less than 500 MW of new renewables power.
in the last six months. Maharashtra installed 187 Indian states have their own RE targets for
MW, Uttar Pradesh 235 MW, Andhra Pradesh 36 2022, which add up 175 GW, but the progress
MW and Madhya Pradesh 88 MW. on these state-level targets has been highly une-
Rajasthan and Gujarat accounted for 73% of ven. Lack of progress in certain key states shows
India’s new RE capacity in the last six months. a disconnect between central targets and state
Rajasthan built 4.8 GW RE capacity, Gujarat 1.8 priorities and may end up holding India back in
GW and all the other states combined 2.5 GW its race to 175 GW, Ember said.
Week 18 04•May•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
