Solar and wind dominate India’s capacity additions in 2022

Wind and solar made up 92% of India’s power generation capacity additions in 2022

Uni Lee

Data Analyst (Asia)

17 March 2023 | 3 min read

Highlights

92%


Share of solar and wind in India’s power generation capacity additions in 2022.

+13.9 GW


Solar capacity additions in one year, comparable to the United Kingdom's total solar fleet in 2021.

33%


Rajasthan and Gujarat’s share of renewable capacity targets for 2030, out of India’s national target.

About

This report analyses findings from Ember’s India state RES target and progress tracker, launched early last year. The data tool tracks the monthly progress of Indian states and union territories against their 2022 renewable energy targets, using archive records of state-wide installed renewable energy capacity data from India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

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Solar and wind dominate India's power capacity growth in 2022

India saw strong growth in renewable (RES) capacity installations in 2022, setting the stage for the country to assume climate leadership in the run up to this year’s G20 summit. Solar and wind dominated India’s power generation capacity growth in 2022, accounting for 92% of total capacity additions. Coal accounted for only 5%. 

While India’s coal capacity additions in 2022 dropped significantly in comparison to the previous year, solar and wind capacity additions increased. Combined, solar and wind added 15.7 GW of new generation capacity in 2022, 17% more than additions in 2021. Coal added less than 1 GW, showing a 78% decrease in additions in comparison to 2021.

Among India’s clean power sources, the largest additions have come from solar in recent years. 2022 was no exception: India added 13.9 GW of solar capacity in just one year, comparable to the UK’s entire solar capacity in 2021. Rajasthan and Gujarat, the top two states for total solar deployment, together added 8.6 GW, slightly more than Türkiye’s entire solar fleet as of 2021.  Installations in all the other states combined were still sizable at 5.3 GW, larger than Chile’s entire solar fleet.

Combining wind and solar together, Rajasthan added 6.7 GW of additional capacity. This addition accounts for 43% of India’s total solar and wind capacity deployments in 2021. This was the largest ever annual combined solar and wind capacity addition at the state level in India’s history.

Growth in solar and wind capacity is expected to be concentrated in Rajasthan and Gujarat, which both have ambitious targets for 2030. Rajasthan and Gujarat together account for one third of India’s total RES capacity target of 450 GW, most of which are solar and wind.

India, especially the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, have demonstrated to the world that rapid deployment of solar and wind is not only possible, but also already happening. As the country presides over the G20 presidency this year, India is well-positioned to take climate leadership as a prime example on the possibilities of enabling clean power generation by unleashing solar and wind power.

Uni Lee Data Analyst (Asia), Ember

Rajasthan plans to reach 90 GW of RES capacity by 2030. To meet this goal, Rajasthan would have to add 8.6 GW of RES capacity every year for the next eight years. This would mean surpassing the 2022 installation record in upcoming years. Rajasthan’s RES capacity reached 21 GW by the end of 2022, easily beating its 2022 target. 

Gujarat’s 2030 target is about two thirds of Rajasthan, with an aim to reach 61 GW of RES capacity. To reach this goal, Gujarat would need to add 5.4 GW of RES capacity every year. Rajasthan’s success with solar acceleration shows that it is realistic for Gujarat to meet that target. Gujarat’s RES capacity reached 18.6 GW by the end of 2022, exceeding its 2022 target.

Supporting Material



Methodology

About the data

Throughout 2022, Ember tracked state-level capacity additions against their 2022 targets for renewable energy sources (solar, wind, small hydro and bioenergy) in its Indian state RES target and progress tracker

Ember also tracks 37 Indian states and union territories’ power generation and capacity data from the Central Electricity Authority and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The data can be easily explored and accessed from Ember’s India Electricity Data Explorer. The data tool is updated every month. 

Information on state-level targets for 2030 are collected from the following sources: