With an addition of over 1,800 mw of capacity during the first nine months

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of the current fiscal, India’s cumulative grid-interactive renewable energy instalment capacity had crossed 18,500 mw mark as of December 2010.

With major contributions coming from the wind sector, the country has added 1,835 mw of new renewable energy capacity during the nine-month period of present fiscal, compared with the addition of 1,204 mw capacity in the same period a year ago. However, even the addition of 1,835 mw fell short of the 2,972 mw target for the nine month period of this fiscal, according to the union ministry of new and renewable energy.

The country also added 81 mw of off-grid/captive power generation capacity from different renewable energy sources during the first three quarters of this fiscal. Wind power continued to account for the major portion of the new capacity addition this year. The new wind energy capacity addition alone was higher than previous year’s total capacity addition. During the April-December period in 2010, the country added 1,259, 204, 144, 216, 5.5 and 7.5 mw of power through wind, small hydro, biomass, bagasse cogeneration, solar and waste-to-power sources respectively.

Of the cumulative installed capacity of 18,654 mw, wind sector accounted for 13,066 mw, small hydropower for 2,939 mw, biomass for 997 mw, co-generation power for 1,562 mw, waste-to-energy 72.5 mw and solar 18 mw. All sources of renewable energy have seen rise in capacity addition this year, compared with the previous year.

The renewable grid capacity in India has increased over five times from around two per cent to around 11 per cent in eight years and is contributing about 4.13 per cent to electricity generation mix.

With about 150,000 mw of known resource potential—of which only about 10 per cent has been developed— renewable energy should be an important part of the solution to India’s energy shortage.

The country’s huge energy potential is likely to be even greater than 150 gw, as resources from sources with significant generation capacity—such as energy plantation of wastelands and offshore wind farms—have not yet been mapped, according to a World Bank report. “The potential for solar power will likely increase,” the report added.