India has to push the envelop to meet solar targets

India needs a clear roadmap if it has to achieve its solar energy targets, according to a recent study. The country has set a target of 100 GW of solar installations by 2022 and 450 MW of renewables by 2030, with solar accounting for nearly 300 GW of the total installations. But according to Mercom India Research’s latest report, Q2 2021 India Solar Market Update, the country is a long way off the targets, with a cumulative installed solar capacity of around 44 GW at the end of Q2 2021. India needs to install 28 GW of solar each year until 2030 if it has to meet the target of 300 GW by 2030. 

However, the investments in solar sector have increased by 119 per cent year-on-year with over $2 billion in the second quarter this year, according to Mercom India Research.

Rajasthan tops in solar installations overtaking Karnataka at the end of the third quarter of the calendar year. At the end of September, the total solar installations in the state stood at 8.2 GW, out of which utility-scale projects accounted for 7.65 GW and rooftop installations accounted for 543 MW. Halfway through the year, Rajasthan contributed to about 35 per cent of large-scale installations with 1.2 GW of capacity installed.

Karnataka had been the top solar state since 2018, with nearly 20 per cent of the cumulative large-scale solar installations in the country, followed by Rajasthan with 17 per cent. In 2018, Karnataka had overtaken Telangana to claim the top spot with over 5 GW of installed solar PV capacity.

In wind energy sector, Tamil Nadu leads the states with a 25 per cent share of the country’s total installation of 39.87 GW in the first nine months, with 9.8 GW installations. India as a whole had a 1.24 GW new installations till Q3, which is an increase of 101.3 per cent from the same period last year.

Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka lead the table. Gujarat installed 135 MW wind capacity in the third quarter, which now has a 22 per cent market share. Ranked second for cumulative installations in the country, the state has 8.91 GW of wind capacity installed. Karnataka installed 63 MW wind capacity in the third quarter, and accounts for a 13 per cent market share with a cumulative wind capacity of 5 GW.

In June 2021, the Global Wind Energy Council and MEC Intelligence released the ‘India Wind Energy Market Outlook 2025’ report, which predicted that the world’s fourth-largest wind power market would add nearly 20.2 GW of new wind power capacity between 2021 and 2025. The report pointed out that the market would bounce back with nearly 20.2 GW installed wind power capacity between 2021 and2025, especially with wind-solar hybrid projects.

The government is also assessing the offshore wind resource potential in designated locations off the coast of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.