India on course to achieve 175 GW renewable energy target by 2022: Official

The country's ambitious target to achieve 175 Giga Watt (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022 is on target, a senior government official said on Saturday.

The existing renewable energy capacity in the country is 75 GW, and about 40 GW more is under different stages of implementation, Anand Kumar, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy, said at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

"Around 45 MW more needs to be tied up. We will do this by March 2020, and it will become operational before March 2022," he said at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Forum at the summit.

Kumar said that share of renewable energy of the total power pie was 22%, and it would go up to 33% by 2022.

"India is fourth in the world in wind power, and fifth in solar power. We will become the leader in renewable energy by 2022," he claimed.

State's energy minister Saurabh Patel said that existing renewable power generation capacity in Gujarat is 8,000 MW. "We are targeting a big jump of 15,000 MW, of which 10,000 MW will be solar, and 5,000 MW wind, in the next three years," he said.

Later, Upendra Tripathy, director general of International Solar Alliance (ISA), said that the entity would tap institutional funds for its projects. The ISA aims to deploy 1,000 GW of solar power capacity and mobilization of $1,000 billion of investment by 2030.

"The ISA Forum had discussions today to tap pension funds and other institutions. We will also involve the micro finance institutions in these projects," he told reporters.