Tamil Nadu Surpasses Karnataka Became Top State in Overall Installed Renewable Capacity

According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MoNRE), Tamil Nadu (TN) has achieved the first position in overall installed renewable energy capacity in India surpassing Karnataka. 

• As of 31st January 2022, TN’s total installed renewable capacity stood at 15,914 MegaWatt (MW) as compared to Karnataka’s total clean energy capacity of 15,795 MW.
• In recent years, Tamil Nadu has increased its capacity across solar and wind segments to regain its top position against Karnataka. 

Background:

i.In 2018, Karnataka achieved top position, to become the leader in total installed capacity in the clean energy sector, supported by huge capacity addition in the solar segment and good progress in the wind power capacity.

ii.In January 2019, Karnataka’s total renewable capacity was 13,402 MW, while TN’s total capacity was 12,125 MW. 

Solar Energy Capacity:

TN’s energy capacity:

i.TN being the early proponents of clean energy, it has the opportunity to increase the energy capacity in different segments of solar energy generation like rooftop, large-scale solar parks, and wind-solar hybrid projects.

ii.As of 31st January 2022 TN’s total solar capacity increased to 4,894 MW (includes ground-mounted, rooftop and off-grid capacity) from 2,575 MW as of 31st March 2019, while wind capacity increased to 9,857 MW from 8,969 MW during the same period. 

Karnataka’s energy capacity:

Karnataka’s solar capacity increased to 7,535 MW as of January 31, 2022, from 6,096 MW as of March 31, 2019, while its wind capacity grew to 5,077 MW from 4,695MW. 

Other states:

i.Rajasthan and Gujarat added the highest renewable capacity (4.8 GW and 2.4 GW respectively) in the current fiscal year till 31st January 2022.

ii.Gujarat – As of 31st January 2022, Gujarat’s total renewable capacity was 15,518 MW. Gujarat attains 1st position in total rooftop solar installations.

• In India, out of a total 6,405 MW of rooftop capacity, Gujarat accounted for 1,679 MW.
• Gujarat has identified 1,00,000 hectares of wasteland in the Kutch district, Gujarat to build the world’s largest renewable energy park that may generate an energy of 30,000 MW and accommodate 24,800 MW capacity of wind and solar power plants. 

iii.Rajasthan – As of 31st January 2022, Rajasthan’s overall renewable energy capacity was 14,983 MW and also the 1st state in India to cross 10,000 MW of total solar capacity and stood at 10,507 MW, followed by Karnataka (7,535 MW) and Gujarat (6,310 MW) and Tamil Nadu (4,894 MW).

iv.Other renewable resource rich states such as TN, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh(AP), Karnataka, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh(MP) added a combined 2.2 GigaWatt (GW) of capacity during the same period.

Recent related news:

On October 25, 2021, the Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy (MoNRE) & Ministry of Power, R K Singh launched India’s 1st ‘Green Day Ahead Market’ (GDAM) for the renewable energy (RE) to enable the electricity generation and distribution companies (Discoms) to trade (i.e. buy or sell) RE in the day-ahead market.

About  Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MoNRE):

Union Minister – Raj Kumar Singh (Constituency – Arrah, Bihar)
Minister of state – Bhagwanth Khuba (Constituency – Bidar, Karnataka)