With an addition of over 1,800 mw of capacity during the first nine months of the current fiscal, India’s cumulative grid-interactive renewable energy instalment capacity had crossed 18,500 mw mark as of December 2010.

During the April-December period in 2010, the country added 1,259, 204, 144, 216, 5.5 and 7.5 mw of power through wind, small hydro, biomass, bagasse cogeneration, solar and waste-to-power sources respectively.

Of the cumulative installed capacity of 18,654 mw, wind sector accounted for 13,066 mw, small hydropower for 2,939 mw, biomass for 997 mw, co-generation power for 1,562 mw, waste-to-energy 72.5 mw and solar 18 mw. All sources of renewable energy have seen rise in capacity addition this year, compared with the previous year.

The renewable grid capacity in India has increased over five times from around two per cent to around 11 per cent in eight years and is contributing about 4.13 per cent to electricity generation mix. With about 150,000 mw of known resource potential, of which only about 10 per cent has been developed, renewable energy should be an important part of the solution to India’s energy shortage.