Speaking at the 7th session of the ISA assembly in New Delhi, Joshi pointed out that solar energy’s overall share in the energy mix has grown from almost negligible a decade back to over 5.5% of global power in 2023.
With global investments in solar energy expected to reach $500 billion by the end of 2024, he highlighted that increased investments will not only imply capacity addition but also bring down overall costs.
The Minister said that solar energy has already surpassed coal and gas in affordability for power generation in many isolated and resource-deficient parts of the world, noting that a record-breaking growth in global solar investments was witnessed from $144 billion in 2018 to $393 billion in 2023.
Moving towards a 500 GW target by 2030, India had reached 90 GW of installed solar power capacity last month. The Minister said that the United States has over 130 GW of solar capacity and the European Union (EU) has 250 GW of installed solar capacity as of date.
Stating that India’s Union Budget for the current year reflected the government’s vision to promote solar power by hiking funding by 110% for projects, he added that the exemption for critical mineral imports underscored India’s resolve to lead solar innovation.
While India has approved 50 solar parks with a capacity of 37.5 GW, it is also looking to grow its share in other segments of renewable energy. Having already identified potential offshore wind energy sites to reach a goal of 30 GW by 2030, India aims for 5 MMT (million metric tonnes) of Green Hydrogen by 2030, supported by a 125 GW RE capacity.
(1 terawatt is equivalent to a trillion watts or 1,000 gigawatts)
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