According to the new plan government will add 250 GW of renewable energy capacity in the next five year so they achieve the target of 500 GW of clean energy by the end of 2030. For this, government has decided to invite the fifty bids every financial year, starting from financial year 2023-24 till financial year 2027-28.The decision was taken by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The annual bids of Inter-State Transmission will also include the setting up of wind power capacity of atleast 10 GW per annum. The plan finalised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) at a meeting chaired by Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh last week, is in accordance with the Prime Ministers announcement at COP26, of achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel (Renewable Energy + Nuclear) sources by 2030.As of February 28th, 2023, India had 168.96 GW of total renewable energy capacity, with around 82 GW of that capacity in various stages of execution and about 41 GW of that capacity in the tendering stage. This comprises 64.38 GW of solar energy, 10.77 GW of bioenergy, 42.02 GW of wind energy, and 51.79 GW of hydropower.The government has decided that the bid plan would add 250 GW of renewable energy and ensuring that they reach 500 GW in total by 2030, despite the fact that renewable energy projects typically take 18 to 24 months to commission. Notably, the Ministry of Electricity has already started working on the upgradation and augmentation of the transmission system capacity for evacuating 500 GW of electricity from non-fossil fuel.Views of Union Minister RK SinghUnion Minister RK Singh stated during the meeting that the governments announcement of the trajectory for adding short-term and long-term RE capacity is an important step towards realising the target of 500 GW fuel capacity by 2030 and towards a speedier energy transition.“India has emerged as one of the world leaders in Energy Transition and this is evident in the growth that we have achieved in the area of Renewable Energy. We are committed to achieving 500 GW of Target by 2030 and the bidding trajectory will provide further stimulus towards this. The structured bidding trajectory will provide sufficient time to the RE developers to plan their finances, develop their business plans and manage the supply chain more efficiently This is a golden opportunity of industry to invest in this sector,” Singh said.B S Bhalla, the secretary for new and renewable energy, stated in the announcement that the bidding trajectory will also help power purchasers, such as distribution corporations, manage their RE procurement programmes successfully.The plan for bidsIn addition to all this, government has unveiled the quarterly plan of the bids for the financial year 2023-24. The bids will comprise for 15 GW of renewable energy capacity in first and second quarter respectively (April-June 2023 and July- September 2023), and at least 10 GW in each third and fourth quarter (October-December 2023 and January-March 2023) of the financial year.Currently, Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited, NTPC Limited and NHPC Limited are notified by the government as Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies for calling such bids. SJVN Limited, a public sector enterprise under the Government of India will also be notified under this. According to the reports, the bidding will be allocated among the four REIAs for this financial year.The REIAs would be able to release bids for solar, wind, solar-wind hybrid, RTC RE electricity, etc., all with or without storage, depending on how they assessed the RE market or the governments instructions.
