Ahmedabad: As India marches towards its 500GW renewable energy capacity goals, Gujarat is indeed taking a quantum leap in not just installation but even generation of green energy. While renewable energy (RE) generation in Gujarat increased 86% over a four-year period, solar and wind energy drove this phenomenon.
The state’s overall RE output shot up from 23,131.61 million units in 2019-20 to 43,039 million units in 2023-24, suggests data from the Union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), recently tabled in Parliament.
In Gujarat, solar energy generation went up 270% from 3,631.86 million units of solar energy generated in 2019-20 to 13,468.91 million units in 2023-24. The state’s focus on enhancing solar infrastructure and favourable policies played a key role in this energy transformation, according to state govt sources.
As of Nov 27, 2024, some 2,86,545 households in the state have rooftop solar installations, suggests data tabled in Parliament in another response by the ministry.
“The aggressive and favourable policy of the state govt is a key factor in encouraging more players to turn to RE sources, particularly solar. Moreover, there is a greater drive by the state govt for rooftop solar, wherein adoption is tremendously increasing. At the same time, project clearances in the state are prompt, as a result of which, the renewable energy output in Gujarat is fairly high,” said Jaideep Malaviya, a solar energy consultant.
Gujarat, in fact, has a strong value chain when it comes to solar energy generation, including solar equipment manufacturers, where expansions are aggressively taking place.
Wind energy, another significant contributor, saw generation increase from 13,748.53 million units to 24,794.5 million units, an 80.3% rise during the same period.
A substantial growth in solar and wind energy has propelled Gujarat to the forefront of renewable energy production in India, second only to Rajasthan, where overall renewable energy output was 48,162.93 million units in 2023-24, up from 14,955.14 million units in 2019-20, a 222% increase during the same period.