India to miss 2022 renewable energy target, says CRISIL

NEW DELHI: According to a note by CRISIL Ltd., India is likely to produce 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. Not just that, it will miss the target by 42 per cent. CRISIL cites regulatory challenges and policy changes, amid record-low renewable power tariffs, as reasons for the shortfall.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at the UNGA Global Climate Summit in New York on September 23, pledged to more than double India’s renewable energy target to 450 GW. Following this, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said India is on track to achieve its renewable energy target by 2022, as set by the Modi government.

The ratings and research agency said in the note, “Renewable energy capacity may increase by just 40 GW to 104 GW in 2022 from 64.4 GW in 2019, thanks to the lingering policy uncertainty and tariff glitches. That would be a good 42 percent short of the government’s renewable energy target of 175 GW.”

According to an analysis conducted by CRISIL, 26 per cent of the 64 GW renewable energy projects auctioned by the central and state governments have received unfavorable response while 31 per cent are facing delays in allocation after being tendered.

Thus, despite the increase in tendering volume, not only has allocation of renewable energy projects slowed down, but both undersubscriptions and cancellations of awarded tenders have also increased, CRISIL said.