India is on track to boost non-fossil energy to 45% of its electricity generation by 2022, well beyond its Paris Agreement commitment of 40%, according to a new assessment by the Moody’s credit rating agency.
The report comes with India’s renewable energy producers expecting the country to add about 80 gigawatts of new capacity over the next five years, the Financial Express reports, citing an industry survey.
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India’s current target for operational renewable energy capacity is 175 GW by March 2022 and 500 GW by 2030, CleanTechnica reports, although there was some concern last fall that the country might fall short. Total capacity stood at 226 GW for fossil and 130 GW for non-fossil generation in March this year, with renewables accounting for 22% of the supply mix and all non-fossil options delivering 36%.
The Moody’s report shows fossil capacity falling from 69.8 to 63.5% of all generation from 2015 to 2018, CleanTechnica says. Solar grew from 1.5 to 7.4%, while “other non-fossil fuel power generation technologies (nuclear and large hydropower) actually declined during this period.”
The 175-gigawatt target includes 100 GW from solar and 75 GW from wind, the Financial Express notes. In the industry survey, respondents anticipated 47 GW of new capacity coming from utility-scale solar, 21 GW from wind, 8 GW from rooftop solar, and 3 GW from floating solar projects
