India is the world's third largest energy consumer with over 1 million gigawatt hours per year. This is projected to increase over the next decade due to India’s ambitious growth plan. Achieving a 100% renewable energy usage for India is definitely a herculean task. However these facts cannot corroborate the myth that “India's Renewable Energy sector is not growing fast enough to keep up with the growing energy demand”. Let's look at some data points before arriving at a conclusion.
India’s solar power installed capacity has increased 28 folds from 2.6 GW in 2014 to 72 GW as of Oct 2023. The wind power installed capacity has more than doubled from 21 GW or 44 GW as of August 2023. India ranks 4th globally in both solar and wind installed capacity. If that’s not impressive enough, India also ranks 4th globally for total renewable power capacity addition. The total renewable energy capacity has grown 2.34 times to 179 GW in 2023 from 76 GW in 2014 indicating a compounded annual growth rate of about 11% which is almost twice the energy consumption growth rate of 5.8%.
The Indian energy sector's impressive growth doesn’t stop here. It has set sights for 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030 and pushes further to achieve a net zero emission by 2070. To meet the target, it has approved 57 solar parks with an aggregate capacity of 39.28 GW. They are also venturing into green hydrogen with a target of producing 5 million tonnes by 2030. This will unlock an additional 125 GW of renewable energy potential.
India is investing heavily and has brought up various incentives and schemes to both increase its renewable energy capacity and tackle challenges such as grid integration. Several large corporations and startups are coming up with innovative grid technologies to improve the efficiency and capacity of renewable energy. Looking at the rate at which India is increasing its renewable energy capacity and growth in innovation, the nation is not just on track of meeting its 2070 goals but outpacing them.
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