Green Energy Push Slowed Down: Report | 30 Sep 2021

Why in News

According to a report, the lockdowns slowed renewable energy installations in the country and the pace of such installations is lagging India’s 2022 target.

• The report was released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). IEEFA is a US non-profit corporation.
• India stands at 4^th position in the world in terms of installed Renewable Energy capacity, 5^th in solar and 4^th in wind.

Key Points

• Highlights of the Report:
  
  • Solar Energy Capacity:
    
    • India has managed to install only 43.94 GW of solar energy capacity till 31^st July 2021.
      
      • India was to have installed 100 GW of solar energy capacity by March 2023 - 40 GW rooftop solar and 60 GW ground-mounted utility scale.
  • Green Energy Capacity:
    
    • Only 7 GW of green energy capacity was added in FY 2020/21.
      
      • India had set a target of 175 GW renewable power installed capacity by the end of 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.
  • Power Traded Amount:
    
    • The amount of the power traded increased by 20% over 2020, by 37% compared to 2019 and by 30% over 2018.
      
      • This led to prices on average increasing by 38% compared to 2020, by 8% compared to 2019 and by 11% over 2018.
  • Coal Stocks:
    
    • It hit a new record high of 1,320 lakh tonnes (Mt) and exceeded the monthly averages of the previous five years.
    • However, an analysis of the daily coal stock position exhibited a “deterioration” as more plants reported supplies were critical.
• Suggestions:
  
  • The challenge of India’s growing daily peak demand does not require investment in excess baseload thermal capacity.
  • Instead, the electricity system needed “flexible and dynamic generation solutions” such as battery storage, pumped hydro storage, peaking gas-fired capacity and flexible operation of its existing coal fleet.
  • Government should accelerate deployment of such sources to help meet peak demand and also balance the grid at a lower cost.
  • Their prices were falling and so would be cost effective and a buffer against very high prices at the power exchange during peak demand.

Source: TH