Renewable energy in country’s power mix has increased from 23%to 26%in April-August periods of the fiscal year 2020, as accounted by a senior official on Saturday.

The share increased at a time when the power sector witnessed sluggish demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The share of renewable energy has uplifted from 23 percent to 26 percent from April to August 2020,” stated by Central Electricity Authority at the CII event.

It has also been said that India would reach the target of carbon emission reduction by 30-33 % before 2030.

Ghanshyam Prasad, joint secretary of the union power ministry, said the country aims 40% of its installed electricity capacity to be renewable or nuclear by 2030.

In Q1 2020, the global consumption of renewable energy was 1.5% higher than in Q1 2019.
The increase is driven by a rise of about 3% in renewable electricity generation after more than 100 GW of solar PV and 60 GW of wind power projects completed in 2019.

In addition to this, the wind availability was high in Europe and the United States in Quarter 1 of 2020.

Renewables are also responsible for lowering electricity demand as they are generally dispatched before other electricity sources due to their low operating costs.

The share of renewables in global electricity generation increased to nearly 28% in Q1 2020 from 26% in Q1 2019.

The increase in renewables came undoubtedly at the cost of coal and gas, as those two sources still represent close to 60% of the global electricity supply.

In Q1 2020, variable renewables in solar PV and wind power reached 9% of generation, higher from 8% in Q1 2019.

On an hourly basis, variable renewables met with a higher share of electricity demand throughout most of Q1 2020.

Before lockdown measures were implemented, the share of variable renewables was similar or higher due to favorable weather conditions, projects completed in 2019, and limited electricity demand growth.

Once lockdown measures were put in place, the electricity demand fell while wind and solar PV levels held steady.
This led to a noticeable step in the variable renewables’ share of demand.

Written By- Mousami Jena

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