Facts:
- Total installed capacity of wind power stood at 25,088 MW
- Solar was the second major segment with cumulative capacity of 4,879 MW.
- Bio-power occupied the third position with a total installed capacity of 4,551 MW
Challenges with renewable energy:
- weather depend: both solar and wind sources are weather dependent; many times weather does not cooperate such as overcast sky, storms etc.; ensuring steady power supplies in such cases is difficult.
- Grid harmony: keeping power from different renewable sources in harmony over the grid is also difficult; especially in context of intermittent power flows from such sources.
- Land acquisition: sources such as wind & solar both require large land area to ensure large scale generation; difficult to obtain in agrarian countries like India.
- Poor battery efficiency: proposal to utilize batteries to meet peaks loads during evening & mornings is marred by poor battery efficiencies.
- High capital cost: high initial cost of investment & technology expertise in harnessing sources such as wind, tidal, geo-thermal etc. is unavailable with most of the countries.