Indian Renewable Energy Industry Analysis

The Indian renewable energy sector is the second most attractive renewable energy market in the world as per the Renewable Energy Attractiveness Index 2017. India’s installed renewable power generation capacity (including hydropower) increased from 42.4 gigawatts (GW) in FY07 to 114.3 GW in FY18, which is 33.23 per cent of the total installed capacity. Power generation from renewable energy sources in India reached 93.21 billion units in FY18 (up to February 2018).

India has the fourth largest installed capacity of wind power and the third largest installed capacity of concentrated solar power (CSP). India added record 11.0 GW of combined wind and solar capacity in 2016-17. Hydro power forms the largest source of energy constituting over 43 per cent of the total renewable power generation installed capacity. India witnessed highest ever solar power capacity addition of 5,525.98 MW and 467.11 MW of wind power capacity addition in 2017-18 (up to November 2017). 15,000 biogas plants were installed during the same time period. Off-grid power equivalent to 168.87 MW was added in the country during January – November 2017.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, has formulated an action plan to achieve a total capacity of 60 GW from hydro power and 175 GW from other RES by March, 2022, which includes 100 GW of Solar power, 60 GW from wind power, 10 GW from biomass power and 5 GW from small hydro power. This has been proving to be the major thrust for the sector in India as the market players have sufficient incentives to move to clean source. Under Union Budget 2018-19, Rs 3,762 crore (US$ 581.09 million) has been allocated for grid-interactive renewable energy schemes and projects.

As India looks to meet its energy demand on its own, which is expected to reach 15,820 TWh by 2040, renewable energy is set to play an important role. By 2030, renewable sources are expected to help meet 40 per cent of India’s power needs. The non-conventional energy sector has received a total FDI equity inflow of US$ 6.26 billion during April 2000 to December 2017.