Discussed with states road map to achieve 175 GW renewable energy capacity: Power minister

Union minister R K Singh Tuesday held a meeting with ministers and officials of renewable energy-rich states and discussed with them various issues facing the sector and ways to achieve the target of 175 GW capacity. The government has set an ambitious target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power.

Various research reports, however, have cautioned that India is unlikely to meet the energy targets for wind and solar power. The Union new and renewable energy minister met representatives including energy ministers and secretaries of 11 renewable energy rich states.

Singh said that steps to be taken to achieve the target of 175 GW were discussed at the meeting. "To meet the target, what all steps should be taken, it was decided. What all problems are coming in the way and what will be the solutions were discussed at length. In some states there were land issues, in some, transmission issues were there," he said adding that all the issues will be resolved soon.

At present, he said, India's installed renewable energy generation capacity is at 80 GW, another 24 GW is under installation and 40 GW is under various levels of bids. All states have been asked to fast track the process for bidding.

He further said, "We are bringing some flexibility also in our target. Now, we are not saying that there should be 100 GW solar (capacity) and wind (capacity) has to be 60 GW. Wherever there is scope we will exploit. We are not rigid about the mix (of 175 GW). The mix can vary. Solar capacity (by 2022 ) may exceed to 110 GW or remain at 80 GW. Similarly wind capacity can also be at 50 GW-70 GW." Several schemes for the farmers were also discussed.

If a farmer installs generation capacity of 2 MW on his land, the government will purchase the power from him, the minister said. By selling 1 MW of power at a rate of roughly 20 paise to 30 paise, a farmer can easily earn Rs 1 lakh annually, Singh said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)