Northern India, with the potential of about 363 GW of power, can emerge as the hub for renewable energy in the country, said a study.
According to Livemint, the report titled ‘State Renewable Energy Policies: A Comparative Study’ was released by industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
It highlighted that southern and western regions of the country are fast moving up the renewable energy installed capacity graph. The study also stressed that the ecosystem of renewable energy in India is still fraught with constraints, particularly with respect to state policies.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of renewable power target by 2022.
The CII report said that all northern states have come up with sector-specific policies to promote renewable energy. States that are counted in the northern region are Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh.
As per the report, the northern region accounts for about 20.49 per cent, which is about 10,247 MW, of the 50,018 MW overall installed capacity of renewable power in India (till 31 December 2016). In comparison, the southern region alone accounts for 43.42 per cent (21,721.42 MW) of India’s total installed renewable power and the western region for 33.7 per cent (16,861 MW).
