India’s Grid-Connected Solar Power Capacity Tops 8 GW

India’s solar power sector achieved yet another milestone as the government continues to push for its ambitious 100 GW installed capacity target by 2022.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has announced that the total grid-connected solar power capacity in India has crossed the 8 GW mark at the end of the July 2016. As per the data released by the ministry, 29 states and union territories in India have operational grid-connected solar power projects.

The ministry has announced a target to install 12 GW of solar power capacity between April 2016 and March 2017. Between April 1st and July 31st, 2016, a total of 1,300 MW capacity was added.

Three states — Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat — contribute around 46% of the total installed capacity. Each of these three states have an installed capacity of more than 1,100 MW. A few other states also have a significant amount of capacity installed and are expected to give some serious competition to the leading states. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana each have more than 800 MW of capacity installed. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab are also expected to sharply increase their installed capacities in the near future.

Grid-connected solar capacity nearly doubled between September 2015 and July 2016. While the rate of capacity is quite impressive, it still lags behind the required rate of capacity addition to meet this financial year’s target.

Apart from 8 GW of grid-connected capacity, India also has more than 300 MW of distributed solar power capacity.