India approves $19 billion for renewable energy program
– India’s cabinet has approved a 1.86 trillion rupees ($19.42 billion) renewable energy program to help improve existing grids and add storage, the country’s information minister said on Wednesday.A 1.36 trillion rupees scheme will strengthen the country’s transmission system within states to enable evacuation of up to 135 Gigawatt (GW) of clean energy, the government said in a statement.The funding approval comes as India struggles to ramp up its transmission network in tandem with the clean energy capacity being added every month.India also announced a 500 billion rupees incentive scheme for installation of 50 gigawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems as the country lacks adequate storage to save the clean energy generated during the day.
The incentives come as India targets raising its non-fossil fuel based power capacity to 500 GW by 2030 from 304 GW at present.