India Needs $223 Billion To Meet 500 GW RE Target By 2030

As per the findings revealed in a new report by BloombergNEF (BNEF) in a seminar in New Delhi on June 22, India will need $223 billion of investment to meet the target of wind and solar capacity installations up to 500GW by 2030.

A Look At The Numbers

In a telling trend, the country has already achieved success in the installation of 165 GW of zero-carbon generation last year. In an enlightening forecast, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has said that India’s dependence on coal could drop from 53 per cent of installed capacity last year to 33 per cent in 2030. At the same time, solar and wind will together make up 51 per cent of this capacity, a marked increase from 23 per cent in 2021.

Published in association with the Power Foundation of India, the report named ‘Financing India’s 2030 Renewables Ambition’, mentioned that the Indian corporate houses could be of great help to achieve 86 per cent of its 2030 goals that entail achieving 500GW of cumulative renewable energy generation capacity. It may be recalled here that RIL Chairman and billionaire Mukesh Ambani had said in February this year that technological advancements will make India a new global energy leader, exporting $50bn of clean energy in two decades.

From The Experts

Addressing the galaxy of corporate leaders on the occasion of BNEF, Kapil Maheshwari, president for new energy at Reliance, said, “As part of the push, the company also plans to bid for any production-linked incentives the government may offer to encourage the technology”.

Moderating a session, Shantanu Jaiswal, lead author of the report and head of India research at BloombergNEF, stated, “To date, the growth of renewable energy in India has been funded by a diverse set of financiers. Debt and equity structures have evolved as the market grew and new risks emerged. India’s ambitious renewable energy targets now require further scaling up of financing with new instruments and learnings from other global markets”.

The report said that $223 billion is required over the next eight years to meet the solar and wind capacity targets. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced at COP26 in November 2021 that India plans to reduce emission intensity of the economy by more than 45 per cent by 2030 to below 2005 levels. He had also announced a net-zero by 2070 target.

“Scaling up financing to meet 2030 goals requires Independent Power Producers to tap into new or underutilised sources of capital. These could be revolving construction debt, investment infrastructure trusts and funding from retail investors, insurance companies and pension funds. Higher funding requirements also need measures that can increase the availability of financing, such as de-risking renewable projects to offering contractual terms that provide greater comfort to investors,” Rohit Gadre, an analyst in BNEF’s India research team, traced the path to achieving clean energy goals that India is looking to achieve in 2030.