India registered 21 GW installed solar capacity at the end of March
A total of around 69,784 MW of renewable energy capacity has been installed in India as on March 31, 2018. This includes around 34,145 MW from wind, around 21,651 MW from solar, around 4,486 MW from small hydro power and around 9,502 MW from bio-power. These figures were provided by Shri R.K. Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Parliament of India).
In the financial year 2016-17 (April 1 to March 31), aggregate capacity of around 11,322 MW of renewable energy was installed in the country, and in FY 2017-18, aggregate capacity of around 11,887 MW was installed. »Thus, renewable energy installations in the country are progressively increasing and do not appear to be facing any major challenges at present,« says Singh. According to the minister, »the renewable energy sector in India is consistently growing and continues to remain attractive for investors from across the world.« Solar tariffs in India saw the lowest ever level of IND 2.44 ($0.035) per kWh in reverse auctions carried out by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in May 2017, for 200 MW and again in July, 2018, for 600 MW.
The Government has set a target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by the year 2022 which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small hydro capacity. So far, 71.33 GW of renewable energy capacity has been installed in the country up to June 2018. To achieve the balance target of 103.67 GW, investment of around $76 billion has been estimated at present capital cost which includes $53.20 billion as debt and $22.80 billion as equity for the debt-equity ratio of 70:30 as per Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) norms.
Furthermore, the Indian Government has set a target of installing 40 GW of grid connected rooftop solar capacity in the country including Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) by the year 2022. As per the Delhi Solar Policy, 2016 notified by Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, the target has been set for installation of 1 GW of solar power by year 2020 and 2 GW of solar power by year 2025 in Delhi, said Minister Singh to a question in Lok Sabha (»House of the People«, the lower chamber of India's parliament).
