The solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO) for financial year (FY) 2018-19 will be set at 6.75 percent, stated Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister for Power, in the Lok Sabha. The non-solar RPO for FY 2018-19 will be 10.25 percent.

The increase in RPO requirement indicates that the government is pushing hard to achieve the installation target of 100 GW by 2020. The solar RPO for the current fiscal is 4.75 percent and the non-solar RPO is 9.50 percent.

Mr. Goyal also stated that an installation target of 15,000 MW of solar has been established for the current year. For wind projects, the target is 4,000 MW. Solar and wind installation targets for the period beginning 2018 and ending 2022 are 87,700 MW and 27,700 MW respectively.

The current installation target for all renewables is 1,75,000 MW by 2022. So far 57,244 MW has been achieved as of March 31, 2017. The targets of solar and wind energy capacity addition during 2018-22 work out to 74.48 percent and 23.52 percent.

Mr. Goyal also stated that there are 16 states and union territories achieved less than 60 percent of their respective RPOs in 2016-17.

Mercom has previously reported that 25 states and union territories in India fell behind their RPO targets.