MNRE Minister Khuba Tells Parliament 123 GW Of Solar Capacity Either Commissioned Or In Pipeline

Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Bhagwanth Khuba informed the Rajya Sabha in his written reply on July 27 that a solar energy capacity of 123.11 GW has either been commissioned till June or is in the pipeline against the target of 100 GW solar capacity by December 2022.

The written reply reads further that the solar projects commissioned (including off-grid) are 57.71 GW while 48.71 GW solar capacity is under implementation. The tenders of solar projects totalling the capacity of 16.69 GW have been floated for bids as of June 30, 2022.

The implementation witnessed three hiccups including the COVID pandemic, acquisition of land and mismatch in timelines between solar projects and power evacuation infrastructure, the minister added. Responding to another question from an MP, the Minister said, “A total of 114.07 GW of renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro) have been installed in the country as of June 30, 2022. Renewable energy projects of 60.66 GW capacity (excluding large hydro) are under various stages of implementation and 23.14 GW capacity are under various stages of bidding.”

In another reply, Khuba shared that the DISCOMs have purchased 3,75,81,714 Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) till June 30, 2022, which is 53.92 % of 6,96,93,635 RECs sold so far since inception of RPO in 2010. The REC facilitates the obligated entities not only to meet their RPO but also to incentivise Renewable Energy generators. One REC is equivalent to 1000 MWhr. These RECs are provided to a RE generator which does not sell electricity from renewable energy sources to an obligated entity for generation of 1MWhr electricity. The Open Access/Captive Power Producers have procured 3,18,18,478 RECs till June 2022, which is 45.65 per cent of the total 6,96,93,635 REC sold so far, according to Khuba.

Union Minister, Power, New & Renewable Energy, RK Singh had told the Parliament last week, “Under Component-B of PM-KUSUM Scheme, Government has allocated over 3.59 lakh standalone solar pumps to various States. Out of this, over 1.23 lakh standalone solar pumps have been installed as on June 30, 2022. Under the scheme, standalone solar pumps up to 10 HP capacity have been installed. However, central financial assistance is restricted to 7.5 HP pump capacity.”