4.4 GW Of New Solar Power Infrastructure Expected To Be Announced In India In 2013
Over 4.4 GW of new solar infrastructure is likely to be announced in India this year, according to the consultant group Bridge to India. But only about 1.1 GW is expected to turned on by the year’s end.
The group is anticipating the “announcement of 1.6 GW of new solar capacity under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) along with an additional 2.8 GW of projects under five state solar programs,” PV-Magazine writes.
The states Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are likely to be announcing the largest solar additions, with 1 GW of new solar power capacity each. Punjab will then be next with 500 MW, then Uttar Pradesh with 200 MW, and Rajasthan with 100 MW.
“But Bridge to India says of those announcements, it expects only 350 MW to come to fruition in the calendar year – 200 MW in Andhra Pradesh, which allows 12 months for commissioned projects to come online and 150 MW in Tamil Nadu, which permits a delay of only 10 months.”
The remaining projects are expected to then be developed in 2014.
Of course, 350 MW is far less than 1.1 GW. In addition to the above, Bridge to india is expecting 290 MW from the NSM by the end of March, and another 30 MW from that by the end of the year; 100 MW from Madhya Pradesh; 40 MW from Karnataka; and about 200 MW from power distribution companies in order to hit their renewable power purchase obligations.
India has been growing its solar power capacity significantly in recent years. Just from August 2011 to July 2012, India grew its solar power capacity from 2.5 MW of grid-connected photovoltaics to over 1,000 MW. And in June 2012, the Indian state of Gujarat connected its new 600-MW solar power park to the grid, considered the world’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant (though, technically, it’s a collection of separate solar parks).
Image Credit: India Solar via Wikimedia Commons
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.