India attains 4th rank in global wind power installed capacity

India has been ranked fourth in the Global Wind Power Installed Capacity index with the Government undertaking the largest  renewable capacity expansion programme to augment generation of wind energy from various sources to meet country’s growing demands. The Government is aiming to increase share of clean energy through massive thrust in renewables. Core drivers for development and deployment of new and renewable energy in India have been Energy security, Electricity shortages, Energy access and Climate change among others. A capacity addition of 14.30 GW of renewable energy has been reported during the last two and half years under Grid Connected Renewable Power, which include 5.8 GW from Solar Power, 7.04 GW from Wind Power, 0.53 from Small Hydro Power and 0.93 from Bio-power. As on October 31, 2016, Solar Energy Projects with an aggregate capacity of over 8727.62 MW have been installed in the country. The Government is playing an active role in promoting the adoption of renewable energy resources by offering various incentives, such as generation-based incentives (GBIs), capital and interest subsidies, viability gap funding, concessional finance, fiscal incentives among others. The National Solar Mission aims to promote the development and use of solar energy for power generation and other uses, with the ultimate objective of making solar energy compete with fossil-based energy options. The objective of the National Solar Mission is to reduce the cost of solar power generation in the country through long-term policy, large scale deployment goals, aggressive R&D and the domestic production of critical raw materials, components and products. Renewable energy is becoming increasingly cost-competitive as compared to fossil fuel-based generation. In order to achieve the renewable energy target of 175 GW by the year 2022, the major programmes/schemes on implementation of Solar Park, Solar Defence Scheme, Solar scheme for CPUs Solar PV power plants on Canal Bank and Canal Tops, Solar Pump, Solar Rooftop etc have been launched during the last two years. The Government of India has set a target of 175 GW renewable power installed capacity by the end of 2022. This includes 60 GW from wind power, 100 GW from solar power, 10 GW from biomass power and 5 GW from small hydro power. A target of 16660 MW grid renewable power (wind 4000 MW, solar 12000 MW, small hydro power 250 MW, bio-power 400 MW and waste to power 10 MW), has been set for 2016-17.