Top Five States in India with Highest Renewable Energy Capacity

Know more on Top five states in India with highest wind electricity generation

India’s energy demand has been growing rapidly. This demand has been boosted by industrial growth as well as a rise in household consumption. On the other hand, supply of energy too has grown but has been outstripped by demand. India has severe power demand supply gap, especially from past two decades. India derives most of its energy from fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil where coal is dominant fuel. Fossil fuel based energy sources are not good for the environment. Burning of coal releases huge amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere and contributes towards adverse effects of climate change. Having major share of fossil fuels in energy generation is not a good strategy for any country where the entire world is concerned about the climate change. In addition, availability of conventional energy sources is limited and rapidly declining. Therefore the requirement to find new energy sources has become a necessity.

Considering the importance of renewable energy in India’s total energy mix, Government of India came up with National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in year 2008 under the prime minister’s office. Under this plan, the Government of India has set a target of reducing country’s carbon emissions intensity of GDP by 20% to 25% between 2005 and 2020. Since there is no GHG emissions during renewable energy generation, NAPCC encourages addition of renewable energy based capacity in the country.

All this triggered the development of renewable energy sector in India. India is geographically, a very diverse country. Therefore, renewable energy sources are not equally well distributed. For example, India has wind energy potential in only six states i.e. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Other states have no or very less wind energy potential. For other sources like geothermal and biomass, the same scenario can be observed. Only solar energy source can be said to be equally distributed.

Therefore, the distribution of installed capacity for renewable energy in India across all the states is not uniform. Following graphs shows the top five states in India with highest renewable energy installed capacity;

Note- Renewable Energy Sources (RES) include Small Hydro Project (SHP, below 25 MW), Biomass Power (BP), Urban & Industrial Waste Power, Solar and Wind Energy.

1.     Tamil Nadu

Total renewable energy capacity in the state of Tamil Nadu is 7,491 MW. Wind energy is dominant in all form of renewable energy in the state (7,154 MW, Reference: C-WET, Feb 2013). The state has conventional electricity capacity of 10,438 MW. Renewable energy has around 37% share in total electricity generation capacity of the state.

2.     Maharashtra

Total renewable in the state of Maharashtra is 4,497 MW. Wind energy dominant in all form of renewable energy in the state followed by bagasse and small hydel. Maharashtra has 2,976 MW of wind energy installed capacity (Reference: C-WET, Feb 2013).The state has conventional electricity capacity of 24,105 MW. Renewable energy has 14% share in total electricity generation capacity of the state.

3.     Gujarat

Total renewable energy capacity in the state of Gujarat is 4,042 MW. Wind and Solar sectors are dominant in total renewable energy generation.  Gujarat has total 3,114 MW of installed capacity for Wind energy (GEDA, As on April 2013) and 852 MW of installed capacity for Solar (GEDA, As on March 2013). The state has conventional electricity capacity of 21,294 MW. Renewable energy has 15% share in total electricity generation capacity of the state.

4.     Karnataka

Total renewable energy capacity in the state of Karnataka is 3,571 MW. Wind (2,113 MW, Reference: C-WET, Feb 2013) and bagasse based electricity generation is dominant in all form of renewable energy in the state. The state has a conventional electricity capacity of 6,648 MW. Renewable energy has 26% share in total electricity generation capacity of the state.

5.     Rajasthan

Total renewable energy capacity in the state of Rajasthan is 3,360 MW. Wind (2,355 MW, Reference: C-WET, Feb 2013) and Solar based electricity generation is dominant in the state. The state has a conventional electricity capacity of 8,310 MW. Renewable energy has about 25% share in total electricity generation capacity of the state.

References: Central Electricity Authority (Sep 2013), Renewable Energy Development Agencies of various states.

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Image credits for maps of five states: www.d-maps.com