Renewables: Promising project pipeline amid tepid capacity addition brings cheer
Even though renewable sector may well fall short of capacity addition target this fiscal, robust pipeline of capacity addition projects in implementation and bidding stages give hope.
During February, the renewables sector added 419.74 MW of capacity, taking the total capacity addition for the fiscal to 5,893 MW and cumulative installed capacity to 92.97 GW as of February 28, 2021. Solar made up 39.08 GW of the total, closely followed by wind at 38.79 GW, according to the information provided by Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
The government has set a capacity addition target of 14,380 MW for this fiscal. Solar power is expected to add about 11,000 MW (9000 MW from ground-mounted projects and 2000 MW through rooftop capacity), while wind power segment is expected to bring in 3000 MW of capacity. But not even half of the capacity target has been achieved during the 11-month period this fiscal.
Amid certain challenges faced by the sector, projects worth 50.15 GW capacity are at various stages of implementation, while projects to the tune of 27.02 GW capacity are currently under various stages of bidding.
