India May Not Achieve 100 GW Target by 2022: Report

The current bidding environment in India is ‘irrationally aggressive’. Around 70% of the total respondents were of the opinion that the aggressive nature of bidding, that lowered tariffs for wind and solar energy to Rs 2.43 and Rs 2.44 per unit respectively, is not feasible for the growth.

The target of adding 175 GW of clean energy to its kitty by the end 2022 seems a not achievable goal for India. The ambiguity around safeguard duty and weak financial position of power distributors can prove fatal for achieving goal set by India.

A survey conducted by renewable energy consultancy firm, Bridge to India shows the prospects for domestic solar manufacturing remains bleak. It can hamper the growth of country’s total integrated module manufacturing capacity at below 3 GW by 2022.

The survey covered around 40 Indian and international clean energy companies including Hero Future Energies, Aditya Birla Group, Sembcorp, Larsen & Toubro, Trina Solar, Schneider Electric, Azure Power and Engie.

The current bidding environment in India is ‘irrationally aggressive’. Around 70% of the total respondents were of the opinion that the aggressive nature of bidding, that lowered tariffs for wind and solar energy to Rs 2.43 and Rs 2.44 per unit respectively, is not feasible for the growth.

Executives of the companies who participated in the survey said Tariffs ought to move up particularly in view of increasing tender issuance, but it remains to be seen whether distribution companies or discoms are willing to accept that.

There would be an addition of 50-75 GW solar capacity by 2022 which is less than 100 GW target set by government, says the survey. 40 GW out of 100 GW is to come from rooftop installations while as the remaining 60 GW would come from ground-mount projects.

Pertinent to mention here that industry watchers acknowledge that rooftop remains the stumbling block of the solar initiative. 60% of the surveyed said total solar rooftop capacity addition would be less than 10 GW by March 2022.