3.6GW of solar power has been installed throughout India in the past year, with a single state achieving 1.2GW of that total.
Of the 3.6GW, four southern states accounted for 2.7GW – and Tamil Nadu led the pack. Six states now account for 80% of the capacity added in India.
Despite the impressive progress, Bridge To India sees some potential clouds on the horizon.
“First, where is future demand going to come from?” says the firm. “This is a growing concern for the sector as India faces a unique problem of excess power supply and most of the big power consuming states seem understandably reluctant to set up new solar capacities.”
Bridge To India states market growth beyond 2018 will depend on fresh demand coming from states such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, which are among 23 states accounting for just 20% of current installed capacity.
The second issue is grid balancing and management will become a bigger challenge. While transmission infrastructure is being built, it takes far longer to roll out than the rapid clip at which solar projects can be developed.
In other solar news from India, the country’s New and Renewable Energy Minister has stated 20,766 MW of tenders for solar projects have been issued so far. Piyush Goyal says of this total, power purchase agreements have been signed for 8,482 MW.
India’s government hopes to see around 10,500 MW of solar power generation capacity added during the current fiscal year (end of March 2017).
India has set its sights on achieving 100 GW of solar energy capacity by 2022 through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), which was launched in January 2010.
In July this year, the World Bank Group stated it hoped to provide more than $1 billion to assist the country towards the goal.
As well as utility-scale projects, there is a strong focus on rooftop solar in the country. In January, the government boosted financial support for this sector from Rs. 600 crore (around AUD $124 million at the time) to Rs. 5,000 crore (~ AUD $1.03 billion). This will support the installation of 4.2 gigawatts of rooftop solar panels out to 2020.
