Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 08 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

India’s green growth

is not enough

India’s solar and wind growth is not fast enough to meet the
government’s capacity targets, writes Richard Lockhart

INDIA INDIA’S total renewable capacity reached 91.2 Some capacity that was likely to be commis-
GW at the end of 2020, with wind accounting sioned in 2020 got delayed due to the COVID-
WHAT: for 43% and solar 42%, according to a new report 19 pandemic, because of which MNRE gave a
India’s total renewable from Indian consultants RMK. 5-month blanket extension to all projects. These
capacity reached 91.2 GW Solar added 2.6 GW of new capacity, while delayed projects are now likely to be commis-
at the end of 2020, with new wind was less than half of this with 1.118 sioned in 2021.
solar outpacing wind GW. In the first quarter alone, installation activity
The report found that new installations recov- is likely to pick up further with 2.2 GW of new
WHY: ered rapidly in the fourth quarter of 2021 after solar and 0.7 GW of new wind.
Installation activity activity plummeted in earlier quarters because of
plummeted in earlier the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Q4 recovery
quarters because of the Wind now accounts for 38.6 GW across In Q4 2020, Huawei led the list of inverter suppli-
COVID-19 pandemic India, edging out solar with 37.5 GW. ers, with more than 1.7 GW of shipments, while
The country’s current solar, wind and hybrid Jinko came out as the top module supplier with a
WHAT NEXT: pipeline now stands at 50 GW, all of which is contribution of 25% of the total shipments.
India is set to struggle likely to be commissioned in the next three years. The high-efficiency mono PERC modules
to meet its green The report noted that another 19 GW of pro- emerged as the favourite module type with
installations targets over jects has now been put out to tender, but auctions nearly 58% of India’s total shipments in the last
the next decade had not yet been held. quarter.
48 new tenders of 8.77 GW of capacity were
Detailed data issued in Q4 2020. This is 22% higher than what
However, figures for new additions show that was tendered in Q3 2020 (7.2 GW).
solar is by far the most dynamic green technol- Amongst the auctions completed in Q4 2020,
ogy, adding more than double the amount of NTPC (760 MW), Adani (600 MW), Sembcorp
new wind. (400 MW) and Axis Energy (380 MW) won the
COVID-19 ensured that new solar additions most capacity.
for the whole of 2020 fell by 65% year on year The fourth quarter also saw a historic low
to 2.6 GW. Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu solar tariff of INR1.99 per kWh, while the sec-
were the leading solar states. This figure includes ond lowest auction tariff was INR2.00 per kWh,
1,172 MW of rooftop solar. for SECI’s 1,070-MW solar tender in Rajasthan.
However, in the wind sector, just 1.118 GW
of new wind capacity was added in the year as Investment
a whole, with about 75% of the installations in Investment flows also bulged at the end of the
Gujarat alone, followed by Tamil Nadu (143 year, as investors signed up to investment com-
MW) and Karnataka (115 MW). mitments after the initial market disruption
In the fourth quarter of 2020, India added caused by COVID-19 started to fade. Total
1,016 MW of solar capacity, 86% higher than Q3, investment in renewables reached $1.27bn in
while 500 MW of wind was installed, 70% more Q4, 211% more than the $409mn posted for Q3.
than Q3. Both represent a considerable recovery The biggest investment seen in Q4 was Ayana
from the start of the year, when the COVID-19 Renewables, which raised $390mn of equity
inspired lockdown of the national economy put funding from NIIF and CDC group.
the brakes on construction activity. Other key investment included Ayana buying
The report forecast that 2021 is set be the 300 MW of wind capacity in a $205mn deal.
landmark year in terms of new solar and capac- CLP WindFarms (India) raised $40.51mn in
ity additions. a green bond issue in order to support the cli-
About 9.7 GW of new solar capacity and 2.5 mate and sustainability projects.
GW of new wind capacity are likely to be com- However, the biggest project developers
missioned in 2021. Rooftop solar is set to see 2 across solar and wind remained India’s large
GW of new capacity. private and public companies, with Adani the

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