India saw a significant increase in renewable energy installations in 2022, according to data from the climate think tank Ember.
This growth is considered a positive development for India’s efforts to assume a leadership role in climate action ahead of the G20 summit.
Solar and wind were the dominant sources of power generation capacity growth in India in 2022, accounting for 92% of total capacity additions, the report suggests.
New coal power accounted for 5% of capacity additions in the country.
Solar power has seen growth in India in recent years – last year, India added 13.9GW of solar capacity in just one year, which is comparable to the entire solar capacity of the UK in 2021, Ember has said.
Rajasthan and Gujarat were the top two states for total solar deployment, adding a combined 8.6GW of solar capacity, which is slightly more than the entire solar fleet of Turkey as of 2021.
When combining wind and solar, Rajasthan added 6.7GW of additional capacity in 2022, accounting for 43% of India’s total solar and wind capacity deployments that year.
This was the largest-ever annual combined solar and wind capacity addition at the state level in India’s history, according to the report.