123 GW of Solar Capacity Either Commissioned or In Pipeline: Govt

India has commissioned 57.71 GW of solar power, while 48.71 GW more were in the pipeline as of June 30, which is against the goal of 100 GW capacity by December 2022. Parliament was informed Tuesday.

Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, stated in a written response to Rajya Sabha that a solar power capacity of 123.11 GW had been commissioned or is being built.

Khuba stated that the government has set a goal to achieve 100 GW of solar power capacity in December 2022.

Solar projects commissioned (including off-grid) are 57.71 GW while 48.71 GW solar capacity is under implementation. Solar projects with a total capacity of 16.69 GW are under tendering as of June 30, 2022.

Challenges faced in the implementation of solar projects include deceleration of pace of implementation to a considerable extent due to COVID pandemic; acquisition of clear land and mismatch in timelines between solar projects and power evacuation infrastructure, the minister said.

In another reply to the House, the minister said, “A total of 114.07 GW of renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro) have been installed in the country as of June 30, 2022.

Renewable energy projects of 60.66 GW capacity (excluding large hydro) are under various stages of implementation and 23.14 GW capacity are under various stages of bidding.

The installed wind energy capacity is 40.78GW as of June 30.

In another reply, the minister stated that so far, a total of 160.92 GW of renewable energy capacity (including large hydro) has been installed in the country as of June 30, 2022.

This capacity includes 57.71 GW solar power, 40.79 GW wind power, 10.68 GW bio-power, 4.89 GW small hydro power and 46.85 GW Large Hydro Power. Further, projects of 74.76 GW capacity are under various stages of implementation and 23.14 GW capacity are under various stages of bidding.

In another reply, the minister told the House that the discoms have purchased 3,75,81,714 renewable energy certificates (RECs) (till June 30, 2022), which is 53.92 per cent of 6,96,93,635 RECs sold so far since inception of this concept of renewable purchase obligation in 2010.

The REC mechanism was launched in 2010 to facilitate obligated entities to meet their Renewable Purchase Obligations and also to incentivise Renewable Energy generators.

One REC is equivalent to 1000 MWhr. These RECs are given to a RE generator who does not sell electricity from renewable energy sources to an obligated entity for generation of 1MWhr of electricity.

The Open Access/Captive Power Producers purchased 3,18,18,478 RECs till June this year, which is 45.65 per cent of the total 6,96,93,635 REC sold so far.