The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced August 12, 2021 that the country has achieved the milestone of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity. This excluded lage hydroelectricity capacities installed in the country, the ministry added. The achievement is indeed a landmark in India’s green portfolio but is still not an encouraging sign of the country attaining its 2022 target of 175 GW installation. An analysis of monthly installed capacity in the first six months of 2021, after the first wave of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, explains this apprehension. Between January and June, only 1GW of renewable energy capacity was installed in a month on an average, according to data by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) under the Union Ministry of Power.
Moreover, the target set for installed solar energy capacity is 100 GW by March 2023 — 40 GW rooftop solar and 60 GW ground-mounted utility scale. The country has managed to install only 43.94 GW till July 31, 2021, the CEA data suggests. The rooftop solar installation has been particularly dismal at 7GW till December 2020, according to Bridge to India, a renewable energy consultancy. The capacity addition has been concentrated in Karnataka (15.6 GW), Tamil Nadu (15.5 GW) Gujarat (14 GW), Rajasthan (11.4 GW), Maharastra (10.4 GW) till July 31, 2021, according to CEA.
— source downtoearth.org.in | 13 Aug 2021
