India Added 2 GW Of Wind Energy In First 7 Months Of 2023

An analysis of India’s monthly installed capacity data for the last two years, released by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), revealed that wind energy continues to see upward growth. Its growth is quite evident in the first seven months of 2023 compared to its performance during the same period in 2022. 

On the other hand, the new additions of solar energy in 2023 have dwindled during the same period compared to 2022. During the first seven months of 2023, India added 7,843 MW of solar power. However, the solar installations stood at 8627 MW during the same period last year. On the other hand, for wind, the story is different altogether. Wind energy seems to be thriving in the current year.

The country’s wind capacity additions in the first seven months of 2023 stood at 2,011 MW, whereas during the same period last year, India saw the addition of only 811 MW of new wind capacities. These data indicate that wind energy capacities in the current year are increasing faster than last year. 

Monthly performance in July 

The latest data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) claimed that India added a total of 1,244 Megawatt (MW) of renewable energy in July. With the latest addition of more renewable power, India’s total electricity capacity notched up to 423.35 Gigawatt (GW). 

The breakup of the data revealed that the highest addition of renewable power came from solar energy. India added 1,049 MW of new solar capacity in the month. It was followed by wind energy which saw a minor rise of 167 MW.

Other forms of renewable energy saw a marginal rise. During the same period, small hydro projects saw an addition of 23 MW of new capacities, whereas the waste-to-energy sector added 5 MW of new capacities. The CEA monthly data revealed no new additions in biomass cogeneration during July.

The data also revealed no new additions of thermal power sources except for gases. There was no new addition of thermal power from coal, lignite, or diesel. Thermal energy capacity from gases saw an additional 214 MW capacity in the month.