India Curtailed 300 GWh of Clean Energy in Q1 as Grid Lags Solar Build

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India's electricity grid is expanding at a slower pace than the boom in renewable energy installations, leading to increased share of clean energy curtailments and threatening to slow the solar and wind boom in the world's most populous country.

Grid and transmission constraints accounted for nearly two-thirds of all renewable energy curtailment at 300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the first quarter of the year, clean energy think tank Ember said in a report on Tuesday.

“This growing mismatch between fast-moving solar projects and slower-moving transmission infrastructure is now the most critical operational risk to the country’s 2030 target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil electricity,” Ember’s analysts wrote.

While India’s solar and wind power installations have been outpacing government targets in recent years, India has delivered only about 80% of its annual transmission targets in the past five years, according to Ember’s analysis.

Currently, one in four Inter-State Transmission System schemes nationwide faces a delay of a year or more, due to right-of-way disputes, fragmented land ownership, forest and biodiversity clearances, and a thin global supplier base for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) components, Ember notes.

India’s largest wind farm in Muppandal, Tamil Nadu. Source: Wikipedia