Indian EV Sector Registered 170% Growth In FY23: CEEW-CEF Report

A latest analysis report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water’s Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF) claimed that sales of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in India grew exponentially in FY23. It claimed that the Indian EV sector witnessed a growth of 170 percent (compared to FY22). It also crossed the one million mark during the same period. 

“The share of electric vehicles in overall vehicle sales went up to 5.35% (vs 2.53% in FY22). More than two lakh EVs were sold in each quarter of FY23,” the report said. The CEEW-CEF Market Handbook also sheds light on several other sources of energy and their performance during the period.

The report said that in FY23, India’s total power generation capacity touched 416 Gigawatt (GW). It comprised 125 GW of renewable energy and 47 GW of hydro energy. The coal capacity addition in India decreased by 60 percent in FY23. However, the report said that wind energy during the same period almost doubled. 

It said that another 83 GW of renewable energy projects were under different levels of implementation by the end of February this year. The Market handbook for 2022-23 identifies and analyses trends critical to India’s energy transition.

 “FY23 saw wind capacity addition pick up again. In fact, the newly notified renewable purchase obligation (RPO) trajectory has a dedicated wind RPO to be met with projects commissioned after 31 March 2022. Further, procurement under innovative formats such as hybrids and RE plus storage accounted for 31 percent of capacity auctioned during the year. Finally, over 4 GWh of standalone energy storage tenders were concluded,” Gagan Sidhu, Director, CEEW-CEF, said. 

The report said that India added 17 GW of total energy capacities during the financial year, and 92 percent came from renewable alone. However, it also noted that the overall share of renewables in India’s power generation mix stood at 11.8 percent. Further, the report highlighted that solar (grid-scale and rooftop) continued to take the lead, accounting for 84 percent of the RE capacity added. However, wind capacity addition doubled over the year to reach 2.3 GW. 

Ruchita Shah, Programme Associate, CEEW-CEF, said, “FY23 has been a pivotal year for renewable energy. First, the reverse auction mechanism for wind projects was scrapped, and the MNRE announced a five-year RE bidding trajectory that directs the REIAs to conduct 50 GW bids annually till FY28. A long-term bidding trajectory will provide a clear vision to RE developers, enabling them to plan to finance and manage their supply chain for a longer duration.”

In March 2023, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy directed renewable energy implementing agencies (REIAs) to conduct bids for 50 GW RE annually until FY28. The report found that around 10 GW of RE capacity was auctioned in FY23, and another 41 GW was under the tendering process. It was also a significant year for energy storage in India as 4,020 MWh of standalone energy storage tenders were concluded.