Solar and Wind share 92 percent of India’s power generation capacity growth in 2022: EMBER

New Delhi: Solar and wind dominated India’s power generation capacity growth in 2022, accounting for 92% of total capacity additions, while coal added less than 1 Gega Watt, as per the global Energy think tank Ember.

“Combined, solar and wind added 15.7 GW of new generation capacity in 2022, 17% more than additions in 2021” the think tank said in its report.

Whereas, the Coal added less than 1 GW, showing a 78% decrease in additions in comparison to 2021. India had set a target to achieve 50 percent of energy production by non-fossil fuel, and by 2070 it plans ‘Net Zero’.

India added 13.9 GW of solar capacity in just one year, comparable to the UK’s entire solar capacity in 2021.

“India, especially the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, have demonstrated to the world that rapid deployment of solar and wind is not only possible, but also already happening. As the country presides over the G20 presidency this year, India is well-positioned to take climate leadership as a prime example on the possibilities of enabling clean power generation by unleashing solar and wind power” said Uni Lee Data Analyst (Asia), Ember

The think tank noted that Rajasthan and Gujarat, the top two states for total solar deployment, together added 8.6 GW.

Combining wind and solar together, Rajasthan added 6.7 GW of additional capacity.

“This addition accounts for 43% of India’s total solar and wind capacity deployments in 2021 which was the largest ever annual combined solar and wind capacity addition at the state level in India’s history” it said.

EMBER said Rajasthan and Gujarat together account for one third of India’s total RES capacity target of 450 GW, most of which are solar and wind.

Rajasthan plans to reach 90 GW of RES capacity by 2030. To meet this goal, Rajasthan would have to add 8.6 GW of RES capacity every year for the next eight years.

Gujarat’s 2030 target is about two thirds of Rajasthan, with an aim to reach 61 GW of RES capacity. To reach this goal, Gujarat would need to add 5.4 GW of RES capacity every year.