A new hope came to us in the form of an announcement wherein the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India claimed the country’s total installed renewable energy capacity, to have crossed more than 150 gigawatt (GW).
Under the Paris Agreement, India has aimed to install 175 GW of renewable power by 2022 including 100 GW of solar power, the rest to come from wind (60 GW), bio-power (10 GW) and small hydropower (5 GW).
The target just made, seems to be in complete congruence with the targets till 2022. Our aspiration are beginning to yield into significant changes.
The story so far: climbs and falls, challenges and achievements
India, has taken the lead in working with the renewable energy.
It formed and promoted International Solar Alliance, brought in Bioethanol and Biodiesel blending in its fuel under National Biofuel Policy so that renewables and cleaner energy forms get the required impetus for better adoption by its population.
There was a time in this journey when the Energy experts faced the biggest of their doubts regarding India being able to achieve its targets stated under the Paris Agreement as their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
These apprehensions came to fore in June 2021 when CRISIL Ltd. 2019 paper quoted a shortfall in India’s target for 2022 by about 42 percent and projected India to likely miss its target.
Based on IPCC AR6 report and even the one framed by Climate Action Tracker, India’s climate policies are in coherence with the one under 2 degrees Celsius temperature change.
While the targets appeared hazy for many, there were a few who were hopeful about India achieving its aforementioned targets regarding the Renewables.
Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said with greater optimism: “Keeping in view the progress made before COVID-19 and with the process of installations halted during it, it seems difficult for India to achieve such a target.”
“That being said, there is still a lot of capacity that is in the pipeline or tendered, so even if we won’t achieve 175 GW of renewable energy, we will make significant progress towards it by 2022.”
The country as able to add a staggering 1,522.35 megawatt (MW) of renewable energy capacity for October 2021, amidst the fuel crisis prevalent in India and the world.
This upscaled India’s total renewable energy capacity to 103.05 GW.
A remarkable moment of celebration for the people of India as the total installed renewable energy capacity crosses the mark of 150 GW (including hydro).#renewableenergy pic.twitter.com/ZOk7sdSWkL
— Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) (@mnreindia) November 29, 2021
This included a remarkable share of different varieties of renewable energy addition: with 47.66 GW of solar energy, 10.58 GW of energy derived from Bioenergy, 39.99 GW of wind energy and 4.82 GW of power derived from small hydro-electric establishment.
As per the statement given by MNRE, this addition can be credited to the ongoing projects of more than 50.98 GW capacity which were being worked upon at different stages of completion.
Several other projects pertaining to the energy capacity of 32.06 GW remained under various stages of bidding.
This extraordinary jump for renewables was not made possible because of projects sustaining or being undertaken in the sector while there has been another side to it.
It has come to light that till October 31, 2021, only 39.39 percent of the expenditure outlay decided under the ministry’s total budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 was utilized which stands at the sum of Rs 2,265.99 crore.
It has been worthy noting the fact that Renewable energy could survive the harshest of things: the pandemic when nothing flourished except these greener kinds, the most stringent of subsidies and investments those have been reported to have reduced.
Recently the world faced an energy crisis and according to many Experts, the blame was to be credited to the Renewables that they dissolved all the required investments, choking the economies and even could not step in the vacancy at the required pace.
Most of it, is true unfortunately.
Therefore, this has been a milestone achieved that needs to be appreciated yet we, as a responsible nation, leading the fight against climate change, cannot just constrict ourselves to this basic level.
We need to go far, where we can be an inspiration to the world. A developing world, struggling for climate funds, yet striving to serve the planet by all means.
It will not be easy, molding the needs of people who are already sustaining on the mercy of nature, battling its perils and moving on with losses abound.
But our vulnerabilities can become our biggest asset for now. We are learning new things, saturating the world in us.
Can’t we change while integrating sustainability in every sphere, pouring resilience to the future effects of climate change? Can’t we learn better to survive?
Now that’s an achievement worth making.