Prelimsverse: Learn all about the “Renewable Energy Scenario in India” and Solar energy in particular.

Renewable energy sources have a combined installed capacity of 150+ GW as of 31st December 2021. This Constitutes 40% share in total installed capacity.
The following is the break up of total installed capacity for Renewables, as of 31 December 2021:
Wind power:40.08 GW27%
Solar Power: 49.34 GW33%
BioPower: 10.61 GW7%
Small Hydro Power: 4.83 GW2%
Large Hydro: 46.51 GW31%
All Information compiled from https://www.investindia.gov.in/
1. Government of India has set targets to reduce India’s total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, reduce the carbon intensity of the nation’s economy by less than 45% by the end of the decade, achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 and expand India’s renewable energy installed capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
2. The country has set an ambitious target to achieve a capacity of 175 GW worth of renewable energy by the end of 2022, which expands to 500 GW by 2030. This is the world’s largest expansion plan in renewable energy.
3. 4th largest installed capacity of renewable energy in the world
4. 4th largest installed capacity of wind power in the world
5. Fifth-largest solar installed capacity in the world
6. India has achieved its NDC target with total non-fossil based installed energy capacity of 159.95 GW which is 41.4% of the total installed electricity capacity.
7. Up to 100% FDI is allowed under the automatic route for renewable energy generation and distribution projects subject to provisions of The Electricity Act, 2003.
8. The Green Hydrogen Mission has an expected outcome of generating 4.1 Mn Tonnes of annual Green Hydrogen production.

 Solar Energy in India

  1. Recently, India achieved 5th global position in solar power deployment by surpassing Italy. 
  2. Solar power capacity has increased by more than 11 times in the last five years from 2.6 GW in March,2014 to 30 GW in July, 2019.
  3. The National Institute of Solar Energy has assessed the Country’s solar potential of about 748 GW assuming 3% of the waste land area to be covered by Solar PV modules.
  4. India has set a target of having 175 GW of renewable energy capacity, including 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind energy,
  5. 45 solar parks of aggregate capacity 37 GW have been approved in India.
  6. A floating solar power plant is going to be built in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa. Said to be the world’s largest floating solar plant, it will generate 600 Megawatt power by 2022-23.
  7. Solar Parks in Pavagada (2 GW), Kurnool (1 GW) and Bhadla-II (648 MW) included in top 5 operational solar parks of 7 GW capacity in the country
  8. The world’s largest renewable energy park of 30 GW capacity solar-wind hybrid project is under installation in Gujarat.
  9. Bhadla Solar Park is the world’s largest solar park located in India which is spread over a total area of 14,000 acres in Bhadla, Phalodi tehsil, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, India. 
  10. Kerala’s Cochin International Airport became the world’s first to run totally on solar energy.

National Solar Mission: 

  1. The Mission’s objective is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy by creating the policy conditions for solar technology diffusion across the country as quickly as possible
  2. The Mission targets installing 100 GW grid-connected solar power plants by the year 2022. This is in line with India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions(INDCs) target to achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources and to reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent from 2005 level by 2030.
The International Solar Alliance (ISA), proposed by India as a founder member, is headquartered in India. India has also put forward the concept of “One Sun One World One Grid” and “World Solar Bank” to harness abundant solar power on a global scale.
Solar Parks: The scheme for “Development of Solar Parks and Ultra-Mega Solar Power Projects” was rolled out in December, 2014 with an objective to facilitate the solar project developers to set up projects in a plug and play model.

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