Reaching India’s renewable energy targets cost-effectively
India has ambitious targets for renewable energy growth. As part of its Union Budget 2015-2016, India aims to install 60 GW of wind power capacity and 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022, which is more than six times the current installed capacities of approximately 22GW and 3GW, respectively. This important task is made difficult by the government’s limited budget, which is constrained by a large fiscal deficit and multiple development priorities. Since government support is required when renewable energy is considered more expensive than the fossil fuel energy it would replace, there is a need for an objective comparison between the levelized costs of electricity from renewable energy and fossil fuels.