India approves $19 billion for renewable energy programme

​India's cabinet has approved ​a 1.86 ‌trillion rupees ($19.42 ​billion) renewable energy programme to help improve existing grids and ‌add storage, the country's information minister said on Wednesday.

A 1.36 trillion rupees scheme will strengthen the country's transmission ‌system within states to enable evacuation of ‌up to 135 Gigawatt (GW) of clean energy, the government said in a statement. The funding approval comes as India ⁠struggles ​to ramp ⁠up its transmission network in tandem with the clean energy ⁠capacity being added every month.

India also announced a 500 ​billion rupees incentive scheme for installation of 50 ⁠gigawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems as the country lacks ⁠adequate ​storage to save the clean energy generated during the day. The incentives come as India ⁠targets raising its non-fossil fuel based power capacity to ⁠500 ⁠GW by 2030 from 304 GW at present.

($1 = 95.7800 Indian rupees)