Face of Nation : The installation of renewable energy in India has crossed 80 gigawatt (gw), against the government target of 175 gw by 2022.
According to Minister of New & Renewable Energy R K Singh, a total of 80.46 gw of clean energy has been installed till now, which includes 29.55 gw of solar and 36.37 gw of wind energy.
Of the target of 175 gw, the government wants to have 100 gw of solar and 60 gw of wind energy. “The government is regularly monitoring the progress to achieve the target of 175 gw by 2022,” Singh told Rajya Sabha.
In order to achieve the target, 42 solar power parks with an aggregate capacity of about 23.40 gw have been approved by the authorities.
Of this, power purchase agreements for around 9.20 gw have already been inked. As on June 30, 2019, out of this 9.20 gw, about 6.40 gw of capacity has already been commissioned.
During 2018-19, 6,529.20 mw, or 6.52 gw, of solar power was installed. The preceding year (2017-18), the number stood at 9,362.63 mw. In 2016-17, solar power capacity addition was 5,525.98 mw.
Like in all the infrastructure projects, even for setting up of solar and wind power plants, the government, as well as the private players, continue to face challenges in the form of land availability/ acquisition. The other challenge specific to the sector is for power evacuation.
To address these problems, the government has introduced a new policy in the Solar Park Scheme, which allows Solar Energy Corporation of India to be the power park developer. Under this, Solar Energy Corporation of India with the assistance of states will make land available to the private players and also to evacuate power.
