An overview of upcoming Solar Projects across India

India is ideally located to be the solar power capital of the world. The country receives solar radiation almost throughout the year, which amounts to 3,000 hours of sunshine. This is equal to more than 5,000 trillion kWh. Among the Indian states, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal have great potential for tapping solar energy.

India’s per capita energy consumption currently stands close to one-third of the world average. Hence, India will have to increase its per capita energy consumption by at least 2.5 times.

By 2022, GOI has targeted to achieve 175 GW capacity of renewable energy. Of which, 100 GW capacity alone would come from solar energy. In June 2015, the NDA government increased the national solar mission capacity from the current 22 GW to 100 GW by 2022. Of the total capacity addition expected, 40 GW would come from rooftop solar electricity generation and 60 GW from large and medium-scale grid-connected solar projects.

The intention to expand the solar power capacity in India started way back in 2010, when the UPA government announced the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) for developing 20 GW capacity solar grids and two GW capacity off-grid solar applications.

As of July 2019, there were 452 solar power projects entailing a total investment of Rs 1,93,586 crore. If implemented, these projects would add 26,131 MW capacity. Additionally, the 26 solar parks coming up across 15 states are expected to facilitate setting up of solar plants of different sizes with a total capacity of around 9,000 MW. As of July 2019, these parks are expected to attract investment to the tune of Rs 83,452 crore.

The aggressive approach by the Central and state government agencies in identifying new investment avenues in this sector in the last five years saw outstanding projects investment expanding by around six times. Such investment increased from Rs 46,865 crore in June 2015 to Rs 1,93,586 crore by July 2019.

Of the 452 Solar projects (other than solar parks) currently in various stages of proposals, 181 projects are being set up by private power developers. As of July 2019, these projects accounted for around half of the proposed capacity additions and projects investment.

Although the 452 solar projects are spread across almost all the states of India, nearly half of the proposed investment is cornered by the top five states – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana.