Renewable Energy Attracted $42 Bn of Investment in 4 Years: MNRE

New opportunities have emerged. Altogether new business space has been created. Indian companies have begun to explore foreign stock exchanges as a source of funds.

An investment of $42 billion was attracted by India’s Renewable Energy Sector in last four years and over the same period of time, the green energy projects created over 10 million man-days of employment annually. The data was shared by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) on the eve of Modi government’s completion of four years.

“New opportunities have emerged. Altogether new business space has been created. Indian companies have begun to explore foreign stock exchanges as a source of funds. India is progressively becoming a most-favored destination for investment in renewables,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry further added, “Foreign investors can enter into joint venture with an Indian partner for collaboration and setting up renewable energy-based power generation projects.”

It added that 100 percent foreign investment as equity qualifies for automatic approval and the government is also encouraging foreign Investors to set up renewable energy-based power generation projects on a build-own-operate basis.

The ministry also said the country’s renewable power installed capacity has already reached over 70 Gigawatt (GW) and over 40 GW of renewable capacity is under construction or has been tendered.

“Globally, India stands 4th in wind power, 5th in renewable power and 6th in solar power installed capacity. Solar energy capacity increased by over 8 times from 2.63 GW in 2014 to 22 GW. Wind energy capacity increased by 1.6 times from 21 GW in 2014 to 34 GW,” the statement said.

MNRE also said that trajectories for bidding 115 GW renewable power projects up to March 2020 have been announced and the country is well on track to achieving 175 GW target of installed renewable energy capacity and trends suggest that the target will not only be achieved but exceeded.