Reaching India's Renewable Energy Targets Cost Effectively

This executive summary by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the costs associated with India's goals to install 60 GW of wind and 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022. It compares the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of these renewables against imported coal, evaluates the cost of current support mechanisms like accelerated depreciation, and proposes alternative financing models to reduce government expenditure.

• India's Union Budget 2015-2016 sets targets to install 60 GW of wind power and 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022, representing a significant increase over the then-installed capacities of approximately 22 GW for wind and 3 GW for solar.
• Wind power is already cost-competitive with imported coal and requires no government support. Solar power's levelized cost of electricity was 11.79% higher than imported coal in 2015, but it is projected to become cheaper than imported coal-based power by 2019 due to falling capital costs and rising fossil fuel expenses.
• Under existing federal policies utilizing accelerated depreciation, the cost to support 20 GW of utility-scale solar by 2022 is estimated at INR 46.97 billion, which equates to INR 2.71/W.
• The government could reduce the cost of support by over 96%, bringing it down to INR 0.1/W, by replacing current policies with a combination of reduced cost and extended tenor debt. This approach allows the government to recover costs through loan repayments.
• To minimize total government expenditure, the report suggests prioritizing rapid wind deployment in the near term and scheduling the majority of solar capacity deployment to occur after 2019, when solar becomes competitive with fossil fuels.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2015). Reaching India's Renewable Energy Targets Cost Effectively. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/reaching-indias-renewable-energy-targets-cost-effectively/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Reaching India's Renewable Energy Targets Cost Effectively. 2015. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/reaching-indias-renewable-energy-targets-cost-effectively/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Reaching India's Renewable Energy Targets Cost Effectively |date=14 April 2015 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/reaching-indias-renewable-energy-targets-cost-effectively/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2015reaching, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Reaching India's Renewable Energy Targets Cost Effectively}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2015}, month = apr, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/reaching-indias-renewable-energy-targets-cost-effectively/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }