India to add Only 60 GW RE Capacity by 2025: BTI Survey

India is expected to add only 60 GW of renewable energy capacity in the next 5 years, according to a Renewable Energy CEO survey report 2020 by BTI.

India is expected to add only 60 GW of renewable energy capacity in the next 5 years, according to a Renewable Energy CEO survey report 2020 by research and consultancy firm Bridge to India (BTI).

“This is very low, at 12 GW per annum. The government wants to achieve 175 GW by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030,” said Vinay Rustagi, Managing Director of the renewable energy consultancy firm.

India’s utility-scale solar capacity was 32.2 GW and wind capacity was 37.6 GW as on March 31, 2020.

According to the survey report, 58 percent of the respondents are against the idea of imposing import duty on cell and module imports. The Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy R.K. Singh told the power sector last week that a basic customs duty on solar modules, cells and inverters will be effective starting August 1, 2020.

The survey observed that 50 percent of the respondents believe the auctions market is quite aggressive.

“A large majority of respondents report a challenging policy environment. Uncertain policy environment was voted as one of the biggest challenges in the sector in 2019, indicating little improvement on this front,” it said.

“The majority of respondents feel that new tender designs such as manufacturing-linked tenders and blended renewable-thermal power tenders are desirable but execution concerns remain,” the survey report added.

Earlier in June, BTI had detailed in a new report that India’s total solar and wind (renewable) power capacity additions in the next five years is expected to reach only 35 gigawatt (GW) and 12 GW, respectively, down from previous estimates due to COVID-19 disruptions. The earlier base case solar and wind power capacity addition estimates over 2020-2024 were 43 GW and 15 GW, respectively.

“With the number of infections in India still rising rapidly, considerable uncertainty remains over the economic outlook. The energy sector has been hit by multiple demand and supply shocks. Short-term impact on the renewable power sector has been relatively mild following a series of ad hoc relief measures announced by the government,” said the report titled ‘COVID-19: Impact on Indian renewables’.

It had added that the outlook over the next few years appears gloomier due to weakening power demand growth, deteriorating financial condition of Discoms, and further constraints in debt financing.