Indian State Clean Energy Report – Stressing the Importance of Hybrid Systems in India

Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh were the laggards when it came to renewable energy installation in India this year. India has established a target to achieve 175 GW of renewable power generation capacity by December 2022, but the progress seems to be very slow. The country has established a base of 116 GW so far now but has added a mere 10 GW capacity this year. The four states of Maharashtra, UP, AP, and MP have grown only ~1%-3% in renewable energy capacity addition this year. The pace of new installations has slowed in India due to the Indian government’s imposition of basic customs duty on the import of solar modules and cells.

However, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have been the top performers when it came to annual renewable energy capacity addition this year. Solar and wind energy have been the largest contributors towards renewable energy capacity additions this year and are expected to occupy important positions in the country’s overall energy mix even in the coming years. It is, therefore, imperative to have a look at the hybrid structures and the benefits of installing them in states which have been slow adopters of clean energy. There are various advantages to deploying hybrid systems including cost-effectiveness, shared ecosystem, effective land utilization, as well as maintenance.

Hybrid systems as the name suggest include both solar and wind installations. They can share the transmission infrastructure such as power lines, transformers, and substations. There is better land utilization as the space between two wind turbines can be utilized to install solar panels. Additionally, maintenance is more convenient and easier due to sharing of personnel and infrastructure. The biggest benefit of a hybrid system is that the per-unit cost of electricity is much lower when compared to wind and solar systems individually as well as conventional grid electricity cost. Tamil Nadu is one such state that has witnessed the successful implementation of hybrid systems. Here, the hybrid structure works efficiently but is not very popular due to the lack of a clear policy framework. India also has wind-solar hybrid plants with an installed capacity of about 1.3 GW, mainly in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka.