New Delhi: India’s renewable energy logged a record $14.5 billion investment in the last fiscal (2021-22), an increase of 125 per cent compared to FY 2020-21 and 72 per cent over the pre-pandemic FY 2019-20, a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said on Thursday.”The surge in renewable investment comes on the back of the revival of electricity demand after the Covid-19 lull and commitments by corporations and financial institutions to net-zero emissions and to exit fossil fuels, said the report’s author Vibhuti Garg, Energy Economist and Lead India, IEEFA.

The report highlights the key investment deals made during FY 2021-22. It finds the majority of the money flowed through acquisitions, which accounted for 42 per cent of the total investment in FY 2021-22. Most other big deals were packaged as bonds, debt equity investment and mezzanine funding. The largest deal was SB Energy's exit from the Indian renewable sector with a sale of assets worth $3.5 billion to Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL).

The other key deals included Reliance New Energy Solar’s acquisition of REC Solar holding assets and a host of companies like Vector Green, AGEL, ReNew Power, Indian Railway Finance Corporation and Azure Power, raising money in the bonds market. India added 15.5 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity in FY 2021-22, which brought the total installed renewable capacity (excluding large hydro) to 110 GW as of March 2022 -- a long way off the target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of this year.

Rapid growth in renewable energy capacity will be needed to meet India's increasing electricity demand. To move to a sustainable pathway and reduce reliance on expensive fossil fuel imports, Garg said the government needs to act as an enabler by rolling out 'big bang' policies and reforms to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy. /BI/