India crosses key clean power milestone, but has miles to go

Of the government's total target of 500GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, 20GW could come from nuclear sources

- Rituraj Baruah

In October, India reached an important milestone in its green energy ambitions: an installed renewable energy capacity of 203.18 GW.

With that, the country crossed the 200GW mark, achieving more than 40% of its targeted 500GW of non-fossil power generation capacity by 2030, and net zero carbon emissions by 2070.

In the 12 months to October, the country installed 24.2GW of renewable energy capacity.

"2024 has been a good year from an energy transition perspective for India, with the government and industry working in tandem," said Ashwin Jacob, partner and leader of energy, resources and industrial industry at Deloitte India.

"Key highlights include solar capacity growth of 30% over 2023, and increased policy and budget allocations to drive grid-connected solar plants and kick-start rooftop solar."

Among those policy initiatives was the launch of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, a renewed rooftop solar scheme to encourage the installation of solar panels on the roofs of 10 million households across the country.

The Union cabinet approved the PM Surya Ghar scheme on 29 February, with an outlay of ₹75,021 crore for implementation through 2026-27.

According to data from the ministry of new and renewable energy, 685,763 rooftop solar power installations have been completed so far.

The Union government has announced several other measures to boost energy transition, including the much-awaited viability gap funding for offshore wind energy projects, which the Union cabinet approved in June with a total outlay of ₹7,453 crore.

Tenders have already been rolled out for offshore wind projects, both with and without VGF support.

The renewable energy sector attracts over $25 billion in annual investments, said Srivatsan Iyer, global chief executive of Hero Future Energies, a part of the Hero Group.