India is planning to issue tenders for 60 gigawatts of new solar and 20 GW of new wind capacity over the next two years, in a bid to hit its target of installing 175 GW of new renewable energy generation by 2022.
The report from PV Magazine comes less than two months after analysts predicted the country would fall about 25% short of the target.
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With the timing of the new tenders, “the aim is to close off bidding for the entire amount by March 2020, thus leaving two years’ time for the execution of projects,” PV Mag states, in a post republished by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
The news report focuses mostly on the 73.35 GW of renewables India had installed as of October 31 this year, enough to give it the world’s fifth-largest capacity. The total includes 34.98 GW of wind, 24.33 GW of solar, 9.54 GW of bioenergy, and 4.5 GW of small hydro. The country has another 46.75 GW being tendered or under construction, bringing renewable energy to 21% of its installed generating capacity.
Last month, analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance showed unsubsidized wind and solar emerging as the cheapest source of new grid-scale electricity in most countries. “In India, best-in-class solar and wind plants are now half the cost of new coal plants,” reported Windpower Engineering & Development, in another post republished by IEEFA.
