Amidst an increase in climate change-linked disasters, three states -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan -- have emerged as frontrunners in the race to transition to greener forms of energy.
These three states accounted for around 35 per cent of all renewable energy produced in the country for the last financial year. Between the three of them, they produced 126,269 million units of power from renewable sources last year.
In all, renewable sources accounted for 22.6 per cent of the 1.6 trillion units of power produced in the country last year.
Out of the 366 billion units of power generated from renewables last year, hydropower accounted for the biggest chunk at 162 billion. It was followed by solar power which generated 102 billion units of power. In third place was wind power, with 72 billion units produced.
However, these numbers are dwarfed by generation from the traditional source like thermal (1.18 trillion units).
Within hydropower, Himachal Pradesh was on top with a total of 42.73 billion units, or 24 per cent, of the hydropower production in the country. It was followed by neighbour Jammu & Kashmir with an output of 16.8 billion units.
In solar power, Rajasthan leads with 34.47 billion units, which is followed by Karnataka with 14.15 billion units and Tamil Nadu with 9.4 billion units.
Gujarat has generated the highest amount of wind power in the country with 19.2 billion units, followed by Tamil Nadu with 17 billion units.
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INSTALLED CAPACITY
While the above numbers reflect the actual production, the picture is slightly different when it comes to the total installed capacity of renewable power.
The latest numbers from the government reveal that Rajasthan has an installed capacity of producing 25.7 GW of green energy, followed by Gujarat with 22.8 GW and Karnataka with 21.9 GW respectively.
Rajasthan has an installed capacity of generating 23.2 GW from green sources, excluding hydropower.
Even though Punjab leads in the installed capacity of hydropower generation with 38.7 MW, it is Himachal - with 32.49 MW - that manages to generate the maximum hydropower in the country. This can be ascribed to the relative abundance of the key raw material -- water -- in the state.