Solar>Wind in India
While solar energy hogs all the headlines in India, it is to be remembered that India has the world’s 4th largest capacity of wind energy with more than 27 GW of wind energy installed. India manages to install around 2.5-3.5 GW of wind energy every year, but for the first time solar energy is now beating wind in terms of installed capacity. As per MNRE, 1.75 GW of solar energy was installed as compared to 1.3 GW of wind energy that got installed. This trend is only expected to accelerate going forward as most people estimate that around 10 GW of solar energy will be installed every year.
Also read about India’s first Wind Energy Auction
Wind energy on the other hand is expected to stagnate at around 2-4 GW every year. Solar energy has become the main tool for Indian policy makers to combat climate change. Given that solar energy prices have fallen drastically and now are even cheaper than coal in a lot of places, solar has become the preferred weapon of choice. Solar has grown at a tremendous pace over the last few years and this trend is going to continue. Solar prices keep falling at a pace which is much faster than any other form of energy. While wind energy is also expected to see a price decline with the government introducing reverse auctions for the first time, I do not think that wind energy prices can fall at a pace set by solar prices.
Solar was already close to wind energy installation in FY 16 and FY 17 is going to be the year when solar takes a decisive lead over wind energy and this trend will continue far off in the future.
