India’s Renewable Capacity Addition In Aug ’23 Drops 38%

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has now issued the monthly installed capacity report for the month of August 2023. As per the details furnished by the government entity, India added a total of 628 Megawatt (MW) of renewable capacity during the month. It was possible due to the addition of solar power, wind power and biomass/cogeneration capacities. 

As per the details furnished by the department, India added 465 MW of solar capacity and 149 MW of wind capacity in the month of August this year. With the addition of the new renewable capacity, India’s total installed renewable energy capacity (excluding hydro) touched 131,514 MW (31% of total capacity). Meanwhile, India’s total installed electricity capacity by the end of August touched 4,24,287.70 MW.  Interestingly, peak power demand hit 240 GW early in September this year, much higher thn the projected 229 GW, due to weak monsoon performance in South India. 

However, a comparison of the addition of renewable capacity in August 2023 and August 2022 revealed that the additions in the existing year were higher. In Solar, while India added 465 MW of solar power last month, it added 1329 MW of solar power in August 2022. 

Similarly, while the country added 149 MW of wind power last month, it added 311 MW of wind power during the month of August last year. The overall addition of renewable power last month was also slower on a YoY (Year-on-Year) basis. While India added a total of 1640 MW of renewable power during August of last year, last month, it witnessed an addition of only 628 MW.; This led to a 38 percent decline in capacity addition on a YoY basis. 

Slower pace 

Compared to 2022-23, the addition of renewable has slowed surprisingly. Surprising, because the country’s target of 500 GW capacity by 2030 is increasingly hardening with more and more commitments, with a bias towards a higher number in fact.  An analysis of CEA data by Saur Energy revealed that between April and August of 2022, India witnessed an addition of 6355 MW of renewable capacity. 

However, during the same period in 2023-24, it has seen the addition of only 6192 MW of renewable capacity. Data revealed that India’s total renewables capacity stood at 131.5 GW by the end of August 2023. In contrast, by the end of March this year, India had a total of 125.15 GW of renewable power.