<p>Uttar Pradesh has fallen behind other power-intensive states in terms of delivering on renewable capacity targets and it needs to take urgent action to get back on track and avoid slowing down India's decarbonisation journey, says a report.</p>.<p>A joint report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and energy think tank Ember also highlighted that the state is lagging behind in its 2022 solar capacity target of 10.7GW as compared to its peers.</p>.<p>Urgent action is needed to get back on track, not only for the state to meet its own targets but also to avoid slowing overall progress towards India’s targets of 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity by 2022 and 500GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, the report cautioned.</p>.<p>As of October 2021, Uttar Pradesh had a total installed renewable capacity of 4.3GW which is only 30 per cent of its 2022 renewable capacity commissioning target of 14.1GW, it stated.</p>.<p>In comparison, other states with high electricity demand are well ahead on their 2022 capacity commissioning targets. Gujarat and Rajasthan have achieved 85 per cent and 86 per cent, respectively, Tamil Nadu (72 per cent), Maharashtra (47 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh (45 per cent).</p>.<p>The report said Uttar Pradesh is lagging behind its peers on its 2022 solar capacity target of 10.7GW – the second largest solar target among all Indian states. Only about 2GW, or 19 per cent, of that target has been achieved, it stated.</p>.<p>"Uttar Pradesh has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to rolling out solar capacity to meet its targets,” says report co-author Aditya Lolla, senior electricity policy analyst at Ember.</p>.<p>Uttar Pradesh accounts for a tenth of India’s power demand – the second largest share after Maharashtra. Over the past decade, the state’s electricity demand has increased by almost two-thirds and peak demand has more than doubled. And by 2030, electricity production is estimated to grow by 47 terawatt hours (TWh), it stated.</p>.<p>"Until now, Uttar Pradesh has met most of its strong demand growth with coal capacity expansion. Going forward, solar can fulfil the vast majority of future electricity demand growth if the state achieves its 23.5GW by 2030 target," says Lolla.</p>.<p>"Hitting that target requires a major effort to ramp up solar capacity additions to around 2.5GW every year on an average."</p>.<p>Lolla and co-author Kashish Shah, IEEFA energy finance analyst, say Uttar Pradesh is now at a crossroads where the choices it makes about meeting future power demand growth could either speed up or slow down India’s decarbonisation journey.</p>.<p>Meeting its 2030 solar target will allow Uttar Pradesh to avoid locking in resources to build new coal plants beyond those already under construction, said Shah.</p>.<p>"Building new coal-fired power plants is becoming increasingly unviable," he said.</p>.<p>Capital for coal power projects is drying up. Apart from state-owned non-banking financiers – Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) – there is no investor willing to finance coal projects in India, he noted.</p>.<p>In addition, coal power plant utilisation has been falling. The plant load factor of Uttar Pradesh’s 23.7GW coal fleet has dropped from 68 per cent to 61 per cent in the last five years.</p>.<p>"And heavy reliance on coal now leaves its power system vulnerable to any disruptions, even those caused outside the state. Coal shortages in India in October 2021 forced the state to purchase very expensive power at Rs 22/kWh in the open market," the report said.</p>.<p>It highlights various barriers to solar uptake that need to be tackled urgently. These include the cancellation of renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) in recent years by state electricity distribution companies (discoms) and the discoms’ increasingly high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of above 30 per cent.</p>.<p>Expensive and unreliable coal-fired generation has put tremendous pressure on the finances of discoms. In 2019-20 Uttar Pradesh discoms incurred a loss of Rs 4,917 crore (USD 660 million), despite tariff subsidies of Rs 10,120 crore (USD1.36 billion). </p>.<p><strong>Check out latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>
<p>Uttar Pradesh has fallen behind other power-intensive states in terms of delivering on renewable capacity targets and it needs to take urgent action to get back on track and avoid slowing down India's decarbonisation journey, says a report.</p>.<p>A joint report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and energy think tank Ember also highlighted that the state is lagging behind in its 2022 solar capacity target of 10.7GW as compared to its peers.</p>.<p>Urgent action is needed to get back on track, not only for the state to meet its own targets but also to avoid slowing overall progress towards India’s targets of 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity by 2022 and 500GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, the report cautioned.</p>.<p>As of October 2021, Uttar Pradesh had a total installed renewable capacity of 4.3GW which is only 30 per cent of its 2022 renewable capacity commissioning target of 14.1GW, it stated.</p>.<p>In comparison, other states with high electricity demand are well ahead on their 2022 capacity commissioning targets. Gujarat and Rajasthan have achieved 85 per cent and 86 per cent, respectively, Tamil Nadu (72 per cent), Maharashtra (47 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh (45 per cent).</p>.<p>The report said Uttar Pradesh is lagging behind its peers on its 2022 solar capacity target of 10.7GW – the second largest solar target among all Indian states. Only about 2GW, or 19 per cent, of that target has been achieved, it stated.</p>.<p>"Uttar Pradesh has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to rolling out solar capacity to meet its targets,” says report co-author Aditya Lolla, senior electricity policy analyst at Ember.</p>.<p>Uttar Pradesh accounts for a tenth of India’s power demand – the second largest share after Maharashtra. Over the past decade, the state’s electricity demand has increased by almost two-thirds and peak demand has more than doubled. And by 2030, electricity production is estimated to grow by 47 terawatt hours (TWh), it stated.</p>.<p>"Until now, Uttar Pradesh has met most of its strong demand growth with coal capacity expansion. Going forward, solar can fulfil the vast majority of future electricity demand growth if the state achieves its 23.5GW by 2030 target," says Lolla.</p>.<p>"Hitting that target requires a major effort to ramp up solar capacity additions to around 2.5GW every year on an average."</p>.<p>Lolla and co-author Kashish Shah, IEEFA energy finance analyst, say Uttar Pradesh is now at a crossroads where the choices it makes about meeting future power demand growth could either speed up or slow down India’s decarbonisation journey.</p>.<p>Meeting its 2030 solar target will allow Uttar Pradesh to avoid locking in resources to build new coal plants beyond those already under construction, said Shah.</p>.<p>"Building new coal-fired power plants is becoming increasingly unviable," he said.</p>.<p>Capital for coal power projects is drying up. Apart from state-owned non-banking financiers – Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) – there is no investor willing to finance coal projects in India, he noted.</p>.<p>In addition, coal power plant utilisation has been falling. The plant load factor of Uttar Pradesh’s 23.7GW coal fleet has dropped from 68 per cent to 61 per cent in the last five years.</p>.<p>"And heavy reliance on coal now leaves its power system vulnerable to any disruptions, even those caused outside the state. Coal shortages in India in October 2021 forced the state to purchase very expensive power at Rs 22/kWh in the open market," the report said.</p>.<p>It highlights various barriers to solar uptake that need to be tackled urgently. These include the cancellation of renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) in recent years by state electricity distribution companies (discoms) and the discoms’ increasingly high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of above 30 per cent.</p>.<p>Expensive and unreliable coal-fired generation has put tremendous pressure on the finances of discoms. In 2019-20 Uttar Pradesh discoms incurred a loss of Rs 4,917 crore (USD 660 million), despite tariff subsidies of Rs 10,120 crore (USD1.36 billion). </p>.<p><strong>Check out latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>