What’s in the news?

• The Government has announced that India’s total installed renewable energy capacity has crossed the mile-stone of 100 GigaWatts (GW). This assumes importance given that India has a total installed power generation capacity of 383.73 GW. 
• Today India stands at 4th position in the world in terms of installed RE capacity, 5th in solar and 4th in wind in terms of installed capacity.
• The 100 GW installed renewable energy generation capacity does not include the power generated by the large hydroelectric projects, which if added would increase the installed RE generation capacity to 146 GW.

Significance

• Despite India’s per capita emission being one-third of the world average, the country has been building up its green portfolio.
• While 100 GW has been installed, 50 GW is under installation and 27 GW is under tendering. India has also enhanced its ambition to install 450 GW of  renewable energy  capacity by 2030.
• This will also help India greatly in its fight against climate change as India plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 33-35 per cent from its 2005 levels by 2030 and meet 40 per cent of its electricity needs from non-fossil fuel sources by then, as part of its Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted by 195 countries in Paris in 2015.

Reference:

1. https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=Total-installed-renewable-energy-capacity-in-India-crosses-mile-stone-of-100-GigaWatts%3a-Govt&id=424053