As the country works to meet its 2030 clean power objective, India would need to more than triple the capacity of the auctions used to distribute renewable energy projects.
According to a new federal government roadmap, agreements will be reached on the installation of 50 gigawatts worth of solar and wind projects from now until March 2024. According to BloombergNEF, there were 15 gigawatts of auctioned power every year on average during the previous five fiscal years.
To meet a target of 500 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, which will include hydroelectric and nuclear plants, the country is speeding up project installations. The need for fresh investment has been highlighted by the rising demand for power, yet there are obstacles, such high lending rates, in India.
According to BNEF analyst Rohit Gadre, delivering more renewables projects will also require enough land to put the installations and long-term electricity customers. According to Gadre, these elements are “critical to the success of the plan, failing which it is likely that the tenders will be under-subscribed.”
While there is increased interest in contracts from the commercial and industrial sector, rising energy demand is encouraging some governments to pursue new long-term renewable power arrangements to supplement current coal-fired capacity.
The government’s calendar indicates that India intends to offer 15 gigawatts of projects for auction in each of the first two quarters of the fiscal year, which started this month, and around 10 gigawatts in each of the two following quarters. The auctions will be administered for the government by state-owned power firms Solar Energy Corp. of India Ltd., NTPC Ltd., NHPC Ltd., and SJVN Ltd.
The programme “will give developers visibility,” according to Subrahmanyam Pulipaka, CEO of the National Solar Energy Federation of India, a trade association. “There will inevitably be more traction.”