New Delhi, Apr 5 (KNN) The government on Wednesday announced a plan to reach its clean energy target of 500 GW by 2030 by adding 250 GW of renewable energy capacity in the next five years.

The government intends to invite bids for 50 GW of renewable energy capacity every year between Financial Year 2023-24 and Financial Year 2027-28, an official statement from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said.

These annual bids of ISTS (Inter-State Transmission) connected renewable energy capacity will also include setting up of wind power capacity of at least 10 GW per annum, it said.

The plan was finalised by the Ministry in a meeting chaired by Union Minister for Power & New and Renewable Energy R K Singh last week.

Currently, the total renewable energy capacity of India stands at 168.96 GW with about 82 GW at various stages of implementation and about 41 GW under tendering stage. This includes 64.38 GW of Solar Power, 51.79 GW of Hydro Power, 42.02 GW of Wind Power and 10.77 GW of BioPower.

At the meeting, Singh had said that the declaration of trajectory of short-term and long-term RE capacity addition by the Government is a significant step towards achieving the goal of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030 and towards a faster energy transition.

“India has emerged as one of the world leaders in Energy Transition and this is evident in the growth that we have achieved in the area of Renewable Energy. We are committed to achieving 500 GW of target by 2030 and the bidding trajectory will provide further stimulus towards this,” he said.

In addition to this, the ministry has declared a quarterly plan of the bids for FY 2023-24, which comprises bids for at least 15 GW of renewable energy capacity in each of the first and second quarters of the financial year (April-June 2023 and July-September 2023 respectively), and at least 10 GW in each of the third and fourth quarters of the financial year (Oct-December 2023 and January-March 2024 respectively).  (KNN Bureau)