India Sees Steepest Rise Of Solar, Coal Follows The Race

By Manish Kumar/ Updated On Mon, Apr 29th, 2024

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Renewable energy capacities in India especially solar seem to have received an impetus in the first quarter of 2024 (January-March). As per the analysis of the International Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) the highest additions of new capacities of fuels in India were seen from the solar sector, followed by coal projects.

IEEFA in its latest newsletter cited the comparative analysis of the progress of the energy sector in India from the last quarter (Oct-Dec) ending on December 31, 2023, to the latest quarter ending on March 31, 2024 (from January-March of 2024). The analysis said that compared to the last quarter, the first three months of 2024 witnessed a rise of 62% capacity from solar projects alone.

While during the last quarter of 2023, India’s total solar capacity stood at 73,318 MW, the latest quarter of 2024 saw the addition of 8.495 GW of solar power. India’s total solar capacity by the end of March 31, 2024, stood at 81.81 GW.

While India showed a greener pathway of adding new energy capacities, the South Asian country also added 3.19 GW of new capacities of coal power to offset its rising energy demand. While solar energy saw a rise of 62% from the last quarter, coal saw an addition of 23.4%.

While solar (62%) and coal & lignite (23.4%) remained the leaders in terms of new capacity additions in the latest quarter of 2024, wind remained at the third slot with a total addition of 1,150 MW. Compared to the last quarter, with the new additions, wind power in India saw a rise of 8.4% in new capacities.

Nuclear was the only other fuel in India which saw a noticeable addition of 5% in new capacities. During the first three months of 2024, India added 700 MW of new capacities of nuclear power. Additions of new capacities of small hydro, biomass, waste to energy, large hydro projects, gas and diesel hardly saw significant changes in their capacities.

During the first three months of 2024, India saw an addiction of 13,699 MW (January-March) of renewable energy. The IEEFA analysis said that during this period, 71.5% of the new capacity additions came from renewables alone. By the end of March 2024, India’s total capacity (out of all fuels) stood at 442 GW.

In terms of new thermal power capacity additions, India added 660 MW of new coal capacity from NTPC’s North Karanpura supercritical thermal power project at Tandwa in Jharkhand. It also added 800 MW of new coal power plant in Tamil Nadu, 660 MW of new coal plant by UPRVUNL in UP and 800 MW of new capacities at NTPC’s Telangana plant.