India’s Cumulative Solar PV Capacity Exceeds 92 GW

The cumulative installed renewable energy capacity of India reached 203.18 GW growing by 24.2 GW or 15% within a year, with solar PV driving the volumes with 92.12 GW as of October 2024-end, according to the country’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA).  

Renewable energy now accounts for over 46.3% of the country’s total electricity generation capacity, which stood at 452.69 GW as of October 2024, says the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).  

Adding 8.18 GW of nuclear energy to this number further increases the country’s non-fossil fuel capacity from 186.46 GW in 2023 to 211.36 GW in 2024.

At the end of 2023, the aggregate volume of solar PV capacity was 72.7 GW with the inclusion of 9.7 GW in 2023. It grew by 27.9% to reach 92.12 GW.  

Solar PV is followed by wind power, which grew by 7.7% year-on-year (YoY) to 47.72 GW till the reporting period of October 2024.  

Hydropower came next with 46.93 GW of large and 5.07 GW of small projects. Biopower comprising both biomass and biogas energy, added another 11.32 GW to the country’s renewable energy mix.  

However, hydropower was the largest employer among renewables, accounting for around 453,000 jobs and 20% of the global total, next only to China, according to MNRE.  

In India, solar PV was the 2nd largest employer as it employed approximately 318,600 people with 238,000 in grid-connected solar representing an increase of 18% from 2022. Another 80,000 jobs were in the off-grid sector. Wind energy, on the other hand, was responsible for about 52,200 jobs. The solar heating and cooling sector employed 17,000 people.

India crossed the 200 GW renewable energy milestone on October 11, 2024, when solar PV accounted for 90.76 GW capacity of the total. The country aims to expand its non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 GW by 2030 (see India’s Total Renewable Energy Capacity Exceeds 200 GW Milestone).