The ‘Energy Statistics India’ report for year 2023 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) indicated that Gujarat ranks number one in India when it comes to installed electricity generation capacity.
For 2022, Gujarat had installed capacity of 37.35 gigawatts (GW), which was higher than Maharashtra’s 36.12 GW. In the 2022 report, Maharashtra was on top with a capacity of 36.84GW, whereas Gujarat was on the second spot with 33.91GW. In one year, the state improved the capacity by 10 per cent.
The other states in the top five list includes Rajasthan with installed capacity of 28.76GW, Tamil Nadu with 27.13GW, and Andhra Pradesh with 22.94GW.
The composition for 2022 indicated that the state primarily depended on coal (20.23GW), followed by renewable energy sources (16.34GW), and hydroelectricity (0.7GW).
The report also indicated that Gujarat increased its renewable energy sources by 25 per cent from 2020-21 to 2021-22 – from 13,214 megawatts (MW) to 16,587MW. Across India, the rise was 14 per cent according to the report. The report indicated that the installed solar power capacity increased from 4,469MW to 7,180MW, a rise of 61 per cent. Wind power, in comparison, grew only by 7.5 per cent from 8,561MW to 9,209.
While Gujarat ranked second in wind power capacity after Tamil Nadu, it took the third spot in solar power capacity after Rajasthan and Karnataka. According to the statistics, Gujarat had 4.35 lakh biogas plants, 45,860 solar photovoltaic (SPV) systems, 11,981 pumps with SPV and waste to energy capacity of 22.58MW.
In all, the state ranked second in estimated potential of renewable power accounting for 12 per cent of the total capacity of India; it was behind Rajasthan that had 18.2 per cent share. Experts said the pace of industrialization along with huge potential for both solar and wind projects in the state can boost installation capacity for renewable energy in the state.
