Renewable to be Half of Total Installed Capacity by 2030: RK Singh

It (power demand) will go up further, which means we will need to expand our capacity, so energy is a good market here

By the end of 2030, the renewable energy mix in India’s electricity mix would account for around 55% of the total electricity. The country is expanding and growing in its installation capacity while at the same time the energy demand is also increasing.

Power Minister RK Singh said “We have pledged in Paris that by 2030, 40% of our installed capacity will come from renewables. I believe we have already crossed about 30%, if we add hydropower. So by 2030, 53-55% of our capacity will come from renewables.”

The Minister, who is also in-charge of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), was addressing the business session in Delhi with the President of Seychelles.

“It (power demand) will go up further, which means we will need to expand our capacity, so energy is a good market here,” Singh said, adding that India has become a highly competitive market in terms of renewables.

“The size of the bids will increase. Future bids will be tagged along with manufacturing. We bid out the capacity, plus the commitment to manufacture up to 50% of the capacity we bid for –manufacturing of solar cells right from polysilicon onwards,” Singh added.

He said that India has already installed 70,000 MW renewable energy capacity while projects of 40,000 MW capacity are in various stages of implementation.

“We are adding about 40 million consumers to the electricity network, the biggest expansion plan in the world,” Singh said.

“It’s hard to make sense of recent MNRE announcements. They underestimate various operational and financial challenges and are not grounded in reality. Private investors want MNRE to address their problems instead of setting even loftier targets,” said Vinay Rustagi, managing director at solar consultancy firm Bridge to India.