Experts suggest that government must scale up tendering activity for RE projects along with timely signing of PPAs, easing of execution challenges mainly related to land, augmenting transmission infrastructure, and development of domestic manufacturing ecosystem for renewable OEMs.
Delay in the commissioning of non-fossil fuel-based power generation capacities is going to be one of the biggest challenges before India in achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets, according to the government and experts.
As per the latest NDC targets, India has committed to reducing the emission intensity of its GDP by 45 percent by 2030, from the 2005 level and achieving about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
As on March 2023, the installed capacity of the country was 415.4 gigawatts (GW), which comprises 236.68 GW from thermal (211.8 GW coal and lignite and 24.8 GW gas), 6.78 GW from nuclear, 171.8 GW from renewable energy sources (42.1 GW large hydro, 66.8 GW solar, 42.6 GW wind, 4.7 GW small hydro, 4.8 GW pumped storage projects, 10.8 GW bio-power).
According to a report published by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) this month, India would require anywhere between 12.7 GW and 19.1 GW of additional coal-based capacity if non-fossil fuel-based projects are not commissioned on time. This projected requirement of coal capacity will be in addition to the 26.9 GW that is already under construction.
Source : moneycontrol
