India likely to miss 2022 renewable energy target by a long way

In April 2015, the Narendra Modi government proposed a plan to boost India’s renewable power capacity to 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022. That would be more than a four-fold increase from the 40 GW or so that India had at the time. But with just a year left, India looks set to miss the goal: just about 53% of the target has been met, and states that were to be key contributors are lagging.

When it was announced, the plan seemed to be in step with changing dynamics of the energy industry globally. Yet, India’s capacity addition since then has averaged just about 12 GW per year, far short of the approximate 20 GW that was targeted. Last year, India added just about 7 GW amid the pandemic.

Solar power was envisaged as the key driver of the renewable energy basket. It was assigned 100 GW of the 175 GW capacity target, against a mere 3 GW at the time.