Investments into renewable energy in India rose by almost a quarter in the first half of this year y/y, while investments in China dropped by 15%, data of Bloomberg New Energy Finance show. If this tendency continues, India is expected to become the biggest growth market by the late 2020s, outperforming China.
Overall investment by China, however, was still much higher – $58.1 billion compared to India’s $7.4 billion in the first half of 2018.
India is aiming for a minimum of 175,000 megawatts (MW) of installed renewable energy capacity in the next 4 years. As a means to this end, the country has been increasing investments in renewable energy rapidly. Last year, the power-generation capacity added from renewable sources was more than that from conventional ones.
India became home to the International Solar Alliance this year. This is a non-profit treaty-based group of 121 countries supporting and promoting solar energy use. India is also building multiple large solar power parks similar to, but larger than, those in China. 5 of the 10 biggest solar parks under construction worldwide are in India.
China is decelerating its renewable energy sector, which is the biggest in the world with over 650,000 MW of installed capacity last year. Chinese investment in clean energy technologies peaked at $132.6 billion last year, but this year it has gone down because the country has been withholding subsidies to reduce a $15.6 billion (100 billion yuan) deficit in a state-run renewable energy fund.