India had installed an aggregate of 24.33 GW of solar power capacity at the end of October 2018; its total renewable energy capacity stood at 73.35 GW. The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in its Year End Review for 2018 says it stands committed to the target of bidding out 30 GW of solar power and 10 GW of wind power capacity each in FY 2018-19 and FY 2019-20 (see India 20 GW Tender Roll Out Start In December).
According to Mercom India Research's India Solar Tender Tracker, India has tendered 27.3 GW of solar capacity in FY 2018-19, getting closer to the 30 GW target. A whitepaper presented by Mercom at Intersolar India in December 2018 shows that between January 2018 to September 2018, 35 GW of solar PV projects were tendered by state and government agencies, while more than 13.3 GW were auctioned during the period.
Talking about its huge tender plans, MNRE said, "This has given assurance to the renewable energy developers & investors community about long term commitment and planning of the Government in the RE sector encouraging them to make risk free investments in the country."
Issuing tenders till March 2020 would leave developers 2 years for project execution so that India can meet its 175 GW of renewable energy capacity target by 2022, of which solar has the highest share of 100 GW. Another 22.8 GW of solar power capacity is under implementation or has been tendered, MNRE informed.
Up to November 2018, 47 solar parks representing 26,694 MW have been approved in 21 states. Solar projects of 4,195 MW have been commissioned inside various parks.
When looking at installed capacity, the country deployed 9.36 GW of solar in FY 2017-18, its highest since FY 2013-14, followed by 5.52 GW in FY 2016-17. In the first 6 months of its current fiscal year 2018-19 until October 31, 2018, installations totalled 2,661.12 MW. Installed capacity of off-grid solar PV systems reached 767.51 MW.
However, safeguard duty imposition, uncertainty around exact GST rates, rupee depreciation are among factors that industry experts say have slowed down installation activity in the country. In early December, Mercom reported that by end of September 2018, India's cumulative solar power capacity reached 26 GW, with nearly 90% coming from utility-scale solar. Mercom expects 8 GW additions during 2018 compared to 9.78 GW in 2018, and over 70 GW of cumulative number by 2022 for India, which would mean that the country will miss its 100 GW target by 30 GW (see Mercom: India installed 6.6 GW PV in 9/2018).
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