New Delhi: India added 18.83 GW of Renewable Energy (RE) capacity in the nine-month period between April and December 2024, data sourced from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) shows. Around 85 percent of the total RE capacity addition undertaken by India during this period comprised of solar power — 16.05 GW. Wind power capacity addition during the period stood at 2.27 GW, small hydro power capacity addition was 97.30 MW, biomass cogeneration was 372.86 MW and waste-to-energy (off-grid) was 34.13 MW.
This takes India’s total installed RE capacity to 162.48 GW, out of which solar power capacity comprises 97.86 GW, wind power forms 48.16 GW, small hydro power forms 5 GW, Biomass (Bagasse) Cogeneration comprises 9.8 GW, while Biomass (non-bagasse) Cogeneration comprises 921.79 MW, waste-to-power capacities comprise 249.74 MW and waste-to-energy (off grid) stands at 370.20 MW. According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India had 46.9 GW of hydro power capacity until the end of November 2024. Since the gestation period of large hydro projects is long, it is unlikely that the figure will have changed much between November and December 2024. Therefore, if this figure is added to the total RE capacity installation achieved until December 31, 2024, India’s total non-fossil power capacity becomes 209 GW.
India had committed to put in place 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030. However, in February 2024, the then Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh told Parliament in a written response that India is planning to install 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based installed electricity generation capacity by 2031-32.
Even though according to a roadmap prepared by the government, India needs to add 50 GW of non-fossil fuel based capacities every year to be able to reach the 500 GW target, the total annual renewable energy capacity addition has hovered between 15-18 GW every year until 2023-24.