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Cumulative Solar Installations in India Cross 8.6 GW

Cumulative solar installations in India have reached 8.6 gigawatt as of September 2016. This calendar year installations are expected to touch 4.8 gigawatt while installations so far has been 3.8 gigawatt.According to Mercom Capital Group, approximately 500 MW of solar capacities has been installed in about a month. Four states have crossed the 1 GW solar installation mark.

Out of the 8.6 GW installed so far, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have had significant activity and account for 59% of total installations.India currently has 14 gigawatt of solar projects in various stages of development and another 7 gigawatt waiting to be auctioned. Solar installations are expected to continuing to grow, even with a slowdown in power demand, a decline in capacity utilization among thermal projects, and the availability of cheap power on the power exchanges across the country.  

“The challenge is going to come next year when approximately 9 gigawatt of solar power is forecast to be installed. Unless the ‘must run’ status for solar projects is strictly enforced we would see some challenges,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.