India expected to add record renewable capacity in 2021: IEA

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said the country is set to create new records in adding renewable energy capacities in 2021 and 2022 as it will likely clear the pipeline of projects already bid but have not been commissioned yet due to Covid disruptions. However, the IEA cautioned that the “current surge in Covid-19 cases has created short-term forecast uncertainty for this year”.

The current installed renewable energy generation capacity stands at 94 giga-watt (GW) and about 34 GW is under various stages of implementation while 30 GW is under bidding stages. The highest renewable energy capacity addition of 12.5 GW was in FY18, surpassing the previous record of 11.5 GW in FY17. Rate of renewable energy capacity addition has since dropped, and in Covid-hit FY21, it was just 7.6 GW. Most of the capacity addition since FY18 have been based on solar plants.