The Indian Renewable Energy Market

Over the years, the global market has been shifting towards less harmful ways to conduct industry and live life. One of the major aspects of such a transition is lessening the dependency on fossil fuels and other harmful sources of energy. India has also made great strides in the renewable energy sector and India stands at 4th position for overall installed renewable energy capacity in the world. India is also among the top three nations in the world which are leading the global renewable energy growth (Make in India). The country has set an ambitious target to achieve a capacity of 175 GW worth of renewable energy by the end of 2022, which expands to 450 GW by 2030. This is the world’s largest expansion plan is in renewable energy (investindia.gov.in). There has been considerable foreign interest in the Indian energy market. The government of India has permitted FDIs up to 100% and hence, many companies have taken a stake in Indian renewable energy.

As of February 2021, installed renewable energy capacity stood at 94.43 GW. The country is targeting about 450 Gigawatt (GW) of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 – about 280 GW (over 60%) is expected from solar.

From April 2015 to February 2021, India has added 117.9 GW of power generation capacity, including 64.5 GW of conventional source and 53.4 GW from renewable sources.

By December 2019, 15,100 megawatts (MW) of wind power projects were issued, of which, projects of 12,162.50 MW capacity have already been awarded. Power generation from renewable energy sources in India reached 127.01 billion units (BU) in FY20.

With a potential capacity of 363 GW and with policies focused on the renewable energy sector, Northern India is expected to become the hub for renewable energy in India.

According to the data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), FDI inflow in the Indian non-conventional energy sector stood at US$ 9.83 billion between April 2000 and December 2020. More than US$ 42 billion has been invested in India’s renewable energy sector since 2014. New investment in clean energy in the country reached US$ 11.1 billion in 2018. According to the analytics firm British Business Energy, India ranked 3rd globally in terms of its renewable energy investments and plans in 2020.

The Government is committed to increased use of clean energy sources and is already undertaking various large-scale sustainable power projects and promoting green energy heavily. In addition, renewable energy has the potential to create many employment opportunities at all levels, especially in rural areas. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set an ambitious target to set up renewable energy capacities to the tune of 227 GW by 2022, of which about 114 GW is planned for solar, 67 GW for wind and other for hydro and bio among other. India’s renewable energy sector is expected to attract investment worth US$ 80 billion in the next four years. About 5,000 Compressed Biogas plants will be set up across India by 2023.

It is expected that by 2040, around 49% of the total electricity will be generated by renewable energy as more efficient batteries will be used to store electricity, which will further cut the solar energy cost by 66% as compared to the current cost. The use of renewables in place of coal will save India Rs. 54,000 crores (US$ 8.43 billion) annually. Indian Renewable Energy have a bright and long-lasting future which will benefit the economy of India in many ways.