India’s installed renewable energy capacity, including large hydro projects, stood at 159.81 GW, accounting for a 39.69% share of the overall power capacity mix at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of the calendar year (CY) 2022, according to data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), and Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker.

The share of renewable energy increased marginally from the previous quarter when the total installations stood at 155.26 GW, accounting for 39% of the overall power capacity mix.

Among renewables, solar continued to dominate the list and accounted for 14.06% of India’s total installed power capacity and 35.41% of the total installed renewable capacity at the end of Q2 2022. In the previous quarter, solar accounted for 34% of the total installed renewable capacity.

A few of the larger capacity projects installed in this quarter were the 450 MW solar project of Brookfield Renewable in Rajasthan; Adani Green’s 390 MW wind-solar hybrid power generation project in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan; ACME Solar’s 300 MW solar project in Rajasthan for Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSDECL) and JSW Renewable Energy’s 225 MW solar project in Vijayanagar in Karnataka.

With a total installed capacity of nearly 46.85 GW, large hydro accounted for 11.64% of the total installed power capacity as of June 2022. India had approximately 40.79 GW of wind installations, representing around 10.13% of the total installed power capacity at the end of Q2 2022. Meanwhile, biomass and small hydro accounted for 2.53% and 1.21% of the cumulative installed power capacity at the end of Q2 2022.

Energy from conventional sources

The total installed energy capacity from conventional power sources stood at approximately 242.85 GW at the end of June 2022, accounting for nearly 60% of the total installations. The figures were roughly the same in Q1 2022.

The segment covered electricity generated from thermal-based sources, which included 50.68% of coal, gas (6.17%), nuclear (1.68%), lignite (1.64%), and diesel (0.13%).

Coal continued to lead the way with 204 GW of installations at the end of June 2022, which was the same as Q1 2022. The total market share of coal decreased to 50.68% in Q2 2022.

In May this year, the Ministry of Power set the trajectory for replacing thermal power with renewables by the financial year (FY) 2025-26 to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based capacity by 2030. According to the notification, around 58,000 million units (MUs) of thermal power generated by the public, state, and private sector generating stations can be substituted by 30,000 MW of renewable energy by the FY 2025-26.