Solar in India meets the capacity addition target of 10,000 Mw

Solar target

India is set to meet its target of adding 10,000 MW of solar capacity in 2017-18, almost twice that of the increase in 2016-17.
The country had added 5,526 MW of solar capacity in the last fiscal, which was itself a record at the time.

Capacity addition

The total capacity at the end of 2016-17 was 12,288.8 MW, which means that 7,295 MW had been added till end-February and another 2,700 MW is expected to be commissioned in March. The capacity addition is expected to accelerate further in 2018-19.

Solar tariffs reached a record low of Rs 2.44 per unit at an auction held by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for 500 MW of projects at the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan in May 2017, which compares favourably with the cost of thermal power.

States contribution

India has declared an ambitious target of 100,000 MW of solar capacity by 2022, which MNRE officials are hopeful of reaching.
Of the 7,295 MW added until end-February, the highest was by Karnataka, which commissioned a record 2,628.62 MW of projects in 11 months. This was followed by Telangana, which added 1,995.69 MW. Capacity addition in other states was way lower, with the third highest being Rajasthan with 502.83 MW.

Top performers

For many years, Gujarat had the highest solar capacity, until it was overtaken by Rajasthan in 2015-16. Rajasthan, which also enjoys the highest solar radiation, was in turn overtaken by Andhra Pradesh in 2016-17. Andhra Pradesh added the highest capacity of 1,294.26 MW that year. In end March 2017, Andhra Pradesh had a total solar capacity of 1,867.23 MW against Rajasthan’s 1,814.28 MW.