India to double renewables budget to $1.5bn

India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy is aiming to secure a budget of Rs 10,000 crore ($1.5 billion) for the next financial year, more than double the amount it received last year.

It would be a significant increase compared to the Rs 4,500 crore ($670 million) allocated in the previous budget.

The ministry is planning to launch several large clean energy projects this year and requires a much larger budget allocation to deliver them.

New projects include:

• the Green Energy Corridors, a nationwide transmission grid dedicated for power generated from renewable energy projects;
• large scale solar power projects scheme that is designed to add 20 gigawatts of solar power capacity across several states;
• viability gap funding scheme for implementing solar power projects by offering project developers capital cost support.

In 2015, India increased its targeted installed renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by March 2022, with the total being made up of 100 GW of solar energy and 60 GW of wind power capacity.

The installed renewable energy capacity at the end of 2015 was just under 39 GW, leaving a further 136 GW of capacity to be added in just over 6 years.

India will need $150 billion of investment to achieve the 175 GW target by the 2022 deadline, according to some estimates.