India has commissioned more solar power capacity in the financial year 2015-16 than it had aimed for. It installed 3,018 MW, but had originally only planned to commission 2,000 MW.
The latest figures from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) available with local media point out that the southern state of Tamil Nadu stood at the topin 2015, commissioning 887.19 MW, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 433.24 MW and Telangana with 351.56 MW.
In terms of states with the highest installed capacity as of March 31, 2016, Rajasthan is #1, reaching 1,264.35 MW, followed by Gujarat and Tamil Nadu at 1,105.15 MW and 1,030.77 MW, respectively.
Leading business daily, The Economic Times (ET) said that the country's cumulative solar power capacity has reached 6,753.38 MW, an increase of 80.3% from 3,743.97 MW installed in the previous financial year 2014-15.
India is aiming for a cumulative capacity of 100 GW of solar power by 2022. In the current FY 2016-17, it expects to add 12 GW; the official cumulative target is 17 GW by the end of this fiscal year. But apparently this a moving target: In early April, ET quoted Power Minister Piyush Goyal, who said that 19 GW had been tendered last year and that his ministry now plans to install 20 GW of total solar power by 2017. On April 19, ET quoted MNRE Joint Secretary Tarun Kapoor saying, that MNRE is looking at tenders of 20.9 GW, of which some some has been already awarded with the rest coming in the next few months.
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