India’s RE Capacity at 89.22 GW, 436 MW Added in September: MNRE

MNRE has informed in its monthly summary that India’s total installed RE capacity reached 89.22 GW by the end of September 2020.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has informed that India’s total installed renewable energy (RE) capacity has reached 89.22 GW by the end of September 2020. The information was issued in the Ministry’s monthly summary (September) to the Cabinet.

In the monthly summary, the Ministry revealed that a total of 435.99 MW of RE capacity was added during the month of September, which took the cumulative capacity to 89.22 GW at the end of the month. As per the notice, this includes 38.12 GW of wind capacity, 36.05 GW of solar capacity, 10.31 GW of bio-power capacity, and 4.74 GW of small hydropower.

The ministry has also revealed that further projects worth 48.21 GW of renewable capacity are at various stages of implementations, and projects worth 25.64 GW are under various stages of bidding.

Other key highlights:

a. The cabinet report also stated that an expenditure of Rs 1710.52 crore had been incurred during the month, which is around 29.73 percent of the total budget estimate for the ministry for the financial year 2020-21.

b. Five solar parks of total capacity of 4300 MW were sanctioned under the Ministry’s solar parks scheme. These five parks will come up in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

c. An Expression of Interest (EOI) was issued by the Ministry, inviting proposals for the installation of innovative stand-alone solar pumps under the schemes implemented by the Ministry.

d. SECI issued an LoA for 970 MW ISTS-connected wind projects. It also issued a tender for the selection of EPC contractors for 100 MW solar along with 50 MW/150 MWh BESS at Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh.

e. The Ministry had issued an order to provide a preference for domestic manufacturers in the renewable energy sector in purchases by the ministry and its organisations. This was in pursuance of the instructions issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

f. The ministry also highlighted that the first batch of cases was decided under the Dispute Resolution Mechanism. Also, in its attempt to improve business, the ministry had approved the acceptance of a letter of comfort issued by IREDA as a viable EMD for participation in tenders.

For August, the Ministry had revealed that a total of 751.52 MW of RE capacity was added during the month, which took India’s total to 88.65 GW by the end of the month.

On the financial front, the ministry had notified that an expenditure of Rs 1424.33 crore has been incurred up to August 31, 2020. Which is equivalent to roughly 24.7 percent of the budget estimate for the ministry for the year 2020-2021.

[Updated October 20, 2020]