SoLarge: Renewable energy goal quadrupled

Calling it a quantum leap would be an understatement.

The government on Tuesday said it envisages a stunningly ambitious renewable power generation capacity of 72,400 megawatt (mw; or 72.4 gigawatt/gw) by 2022, or more than four times the current 17 gw.

The current working target for renewable power generation is 25 gw by March 2012. The target for solar power alone is 20 gw by 2020.

Another recent study had pegged renewables capacity at 48 gw by 2015.

India currently has a peak power generation capacity of 150 gw of which, 11.3%, or 17 gw, is in the renewable segment. Nearly all of this is wind power.

The new target means India will have to add around 55 gw in 12 years or 4.6 gw per year, compared with the current run rate of around 2.2 gw.

The 72.4 gw goal, however, pales in comparison with what China aims for by 2020 — 500 gw. That would be more than India’s total power capacity of 455 gw - including thermal, hydel and renewable — expected at that point in time.

The ministry said the 2022 target, if achieved, will increase the contribution of the renewable sector by nearly 500 basis points to around 15.9%.
The ministry said renewables contributed just 4.4% to India’s total electricity output, despite accounting for 11.3% capacity.

That’s because unlike coal and hydel, which tend to work round the clock, both wind and solar installations typically produce only 20% of actual capacity on a given day due to inconsistent wind and sunlight.

Having 15.9% of the total capacity in renewables will help the country produce 6.4% of its total power from such sources, the ministry said.

The ministry is already in the midst of rolling out one of the most ambitious solar power programmes in the world, with a target of adding 2 gw per year for the next ten years. Now this math would change following the new goals.

India is also preparing a new manufacturing policy aimed at countering China’s growing clout in green technology.

The policy, yet to be cleared by the Cabinet, envisages making India “the workshop of the world” in ‘clean and green’ industries such as solar.

After having sprouted in the US, Europe, Japan and Malaysia, most of the green tech manufacturing has shifted to China in the last 3-5 years, both due to better manufacturing infrastructure as well as the Chinese government’s policy of positioning the country as ‘tomorrow’s market’.