Solar & Wind Met Over 50% Of An Indian State’s Energy Demand 3 Days This Month.

For three consecutive days earlier this month, the state of Karnataka satisfied more than 50% of its energy demand from solar and wind energy projects.

With the advent of the monsoon season, generation from wind energy projects has surged sharply, especially in the southern region. One of the states in this region recorded a huge increase in generation from wind as well as solar power projects, which together supplied a majority of its energy consumption for a few days earlier this month. The feat was achieved by the state of Karnataka, which was the 7th largest energy consumer in India in the financial year 2018–2019, with nearly 72 billion kWh consumed.

On July 6, 7, and 8, energy generated from solar and wind energy projects in Karnataka met more than 50% of the state’s demand. The highest combined share of wind and solar energy projects was recorded on July 6 when they contributed over 56% of the energy consumption of the state. The same day also witnessed the highest wind energy share, at least in this calendar year.

Karnataka is among the leading states in terms of operational solar and wind energy capacity. The state currently has an operational wind energy capacity of over 4.7 gigawatts and operational solar power capacity of over 5.2 gigawatts. This solar and wind energy capacity alone accounts for 12.5% of India’s entire operational renewable energy capacity.

Solar Power

While solar power generation in July has declined marginally, due to the monsoon, wind energy generation has increased sharply thanks to the increase in wind speeds. According toCleanTechnica’s analysis of government data, the average share of solar energy in Karnataka’s total energy generation in June 2019 was 16.8%, which dropped to 15.2% during the first 21 days of July 2019.

This is still a huge increase compared to the generation during the same period in the preceding years. In June of last year, the share of solar power in the state’s energy consumption was 10.8%. It fell to 8.5% in July 2018 and increased marginally to 9.2% in August 2018.

Wind Energy

Share of wind energy in the state’s energy consumption in June 2019 was 17.9%, down significantly from 25.5% in the same month last year. In July 2018, the share of wind energy was an impressive 35.3% while the share during the first 21 days of July 2019 has been 25.2%.

Total Renewable Energy

The share of all renewable energy technologies in Karnataka’s energy consumption in June 2018 was 40%, and declined to 34.7% in the same month this year. In July 2018, this share was 50%, while during the first 21 days of July 2019, the share has been 40.3%.

For the entire country, the share of solar and wind energy in total energy consumption was around 8.5% for May 2019. Data for June is yet to be reported.

July 2019

CleanTechnica