India Has Plan to Hit 500 GW of Renewables by 2030

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--India's government is looking to spend US$109 billion to have 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030 and more than 600 GW just two years later.

Publishing its National Electricity Plan, the government's Central Electricity Authority (CEA) positioned the massive plan as a "reimagining of India's energy landscape" for the future. It encompasses a major expansion of the country's transmission network to cope with rising energy demands and the ongoing transition to greener sources of power. This will involve the addition of more than 190,000 circuit kilometers (ckm) of transmission lines and 1,270-gigavolt-amp (GVA) of transformation capacity in the next decade. It will boost inter-regional transmission capacity from 119 GW to 143 GW by 2027, and to 168 GW by 2032.

The plan supports the continued rollout of solar, hydro and wind power but also the inclusion of energy storage solutions and green hydrogen and ammonia manufacturing hubs in coastal regions including Mundra, Kandla and Tuticorin. India's Minister of Power Manohar Lal said: "We have set an ambitious target of 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, effectively doubling our current capacity," adding, "By 2047, we anticipate our power demand to reach 708 GW. To meet this, we need to increase our capacity by four times, i.e. 2,100 GW. This is not just about increasing capacity; it's about reimagining our entire energy landscape. This plan will provide crucial guidance to state governments and investors, fostering a collaborative approach to sector development."

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The plan includes the integration of 10 GW of offshore windfarms, 47 GW of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and 30 GW of pumped-storage plants. India's total electricity generation capacity has reached almost 453 GW. The share of renewables in the country's power mix grew to 44.2% at the end of the second quarter this year according to the latest CEA figures. This is up from just over 38% for the same period in 2023 and puts the country on target to hit its aim of renewables supplying half of all power by 2030. India's total renewable energy capacity was 196.4 GW at the end of June while the total installed capacity of conventional power sources stood at 251.2 GW, or 56.1%. Coal is the predominant fossil-fuel in use, accounting for 47% of power generation with 211 GW of installed capacity. A few years ago, fossil fuels accounted for more than 70% of power generation, the CEA noted. Solar power is the major source of renewable energy at 19.4% share in India's total fuel mix, followed by hydropower at 10.5% and wind energy at 10.4%. Biomass and biogas power accounts for 2.3%, while small hydro accounts for 1.1%.

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