India may smash its 175 GW renewables target several years early

18th june 2018

It’s not revising up its official targets, but the government is hinting that it may now achieve 225 GW by 2022.

Way back in 2014, Zach Shahan reported that India was upping its renewable energy ambitions “from 22 gigawatts by 2022 to 100 gigawatts by 2019”.

It later revised those figured upwards even further.

As it stands, India is now officially aiming to reach 175 gigawatts of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022, but according to Reuters—which is reporting on comments made by power minister R. K. Singh—the country looks set to blow through that goal several years early and may even achieve 225 gigawatts by that date.

That’s right: 225 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy when less than a decade ago the official target was just 22 gigawatts. Once again, we’re seeing a pattern in renewable energy adoption and evolution—targets which were once thought of as ambitious are proving to be decidedly conservative.

From corporate giants like Lego achieving their 100% renewable energy goals several years early, to the offshore wind industry smashing cost reduction goals far sooner than anyone anticipated, I’m reminded that official targets and projections are useful for setting the course of travel—but might not be the best metric to make long-term planning or investment decisions by.

Source: TREE HUGGER