New Delhi: Supply chain disruptions, change in tariff regime and the pandemic were among the reasons for the shortfall in meeting the targeted 60GW of wind energy in the country by 2022, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. The government had set a target of having 175 GW of renewable energy capacity including 100 GW solar, 60 GW wind energy, 10 GW of bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro power projects by 2022.

“As on October 31,2022 wind power projects of 41.8 GW capacity have been commissioned and 11.7 GW capacity projects are at various stages of implementation in the country. In addition, bids of 1,700 MW capacity of wind power projects have been issued,” Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The reasons for the shortfall in achieving the target include change in tariff regime (i.e. from Feed-inTariff (FiT) to bidding route), COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruption on account of COVID-19, etc, the minister informed the Upper House.

According to data maintained by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India has an installed solar capacity of 61.62 GW, 10.2GW of biomass power and 4.92 GW of small hydro by October 2022.

The CEA data showed that the country has 119.09 GW of installed capacity of renewable energy which consists of solar, wind energy, biomass power and small hydro by October 2022.

The Government of India, in June 2015 had approved scaling-up of grid connected solar power capacity target under National Solar Mission from 20 GW to 100 GW of which 40 GW was to be achieved through rooftop solar plants, Singh told the House.

“Till October 31, 2022, 7.2 GW rooftop solar capacity has been achieved. The major reasons for shortfall of rooftop solar installation, inter-alia, include apprehension of possible revenue loss by DISCOMs, delay in getting approvals from different agencies, delay in installation of net/gross meters by DISCOMs, lack of uniform regulations, lack of awareness among the prospective beneficiaries, etc,” he stated.