India may not be able to attain its 100GW solar installation target for 2022 due to appalling implementation of rooftop solar, and is now still 27GW short from the final target.
India hopes to attain 60GW of solar capacity for public utilities in 2022, of which 40GW goes to rooftop solar, though JMK Research and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) pointed out in their reports that there is still 25GW short for rooftop solar, despite solar capacity for public utilities possibly reaching 97% of the target.
Rooftop solar may just be the weak spot of India’s solar target. The country had accumulated 55GW of rooftop solar as of December 2021, of which public utility occupied 77% at approximately 42.3GW, with the remaining seized by rooftop solar, as well as small and micro grids at 20% and 3% respectively.
India has to add another 19GW of solar capacity if it wishes to attain the target in 2022, with 15.8GW coming from public large power plants and 3.5GW coming from rooftop solar. Judging by the existing plan, the accumulated installation for public utilities should arrive at 58.2GW at the end of December this year, with rooftop solar accumulated to 15GW at the same time.
Jyoti Gulia, co-author and founder of JMK Research, commented that despite all combined efforts, India is still 27% short from reaching the target, and 86G short from its 300GW of solar capacity by 2030.
The main reason is the pandemic-induced scission in supply chain and policy restrictions. Vibhuti Garg, co-author and energy economist of IEEFA, commented that a failure in achieving the target during 2022 can be attributable by the abovementioned challenges. These situations would also decelerate India’s development in renewable energy.
The reports also list down various unfavorable factors to the development of renewable energy, including obstacles in regulatory administration, double burden of BCD on imported solar cells and modules, ALMM, unsigned power supply agreement, as well as bank and financing issues. Akhil Thayillam, co-author and senior researcher of JMK Research, even pointed out that the central government and local governments must adhere to consistent policies and regulations in order to support the solar industry for development.
Also mentioned in the reports are recommendations for the short and long terms that include an implementation of unified policies between the central and local governments within five years, as well as regulations on net metering consistent to that of banks, and the ability of cancelling restrictions on renewable energy banks before attaining the target. For the longer term, the goal is to reinforce strict purchase obligations on renewable energy, and provide subsidization on battery energy storage systems.
(Cover photo source: pixabay)