Over 10 GW of New Renewable Capacity Added in India During Jan-Sept 21: Report

From January 2021 till September 2021, approximately 8,811 MW solar capacity and 1,246 MW of wind capacity was added in India says report released by JMK Research.

This is about 280% and 101%, respectively, higher compared to the same period previous year, it said.

The main reason behind this significant increase is the commissioning of delayed projects in this period that were supposed to get commissioned earlier but got delayed due to COVID-19 disruption, said the report.

As per the data released by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) till September 2021, India’s RE installation capacity reached 101.53 GW. Solar energy contributes for approximately 46% share in the total RE segment, making it the major contributor followed by wind energy (39%), Bio Power (10%) and Small Hydro (5%).

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra added maximum solar capacity in this period accounting for 68.53% of all solar installations. In wind segment, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka contributed about 98.66% of India’s total wind installations.

Figure 2: State-wise solar and wind capacity addition in India from Jan- Sep 2021

In the rooftop solar segment, about 2,068 MW of new capacity was added during January to September 2021, which is 134% higher than 883 MW capacity added during January to September 2020.

According to JMK Research, in 2021, approximately 11 GW of new utility scale solar capacity and 2.8 GW of new wind capacity is expected to be installed in the country.

Whereas rooftop solar capacity addition is expected around 3 GW. If the third wave of the covid-19 pandemic does not strike the country between November and December 2021, then it is extremely likely that the RE sector will achieve this target of 2021, says the report.