Gujarat Leads Rooftop Solar Segment in India

Gujarat has emerged as the state with the maximum installed rooftop solar capacity in India with 261.97 MW installed last year.

Gujarat has emerged as the state with the maximum installed rooftop solar capacity in India, with 261.97 MW installed in the state as per the latest data that was tabled in Rajya Sabha on July 23, 2019.

While responding to a question raised in parliament, Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh revealed that India installed solar rooftop capacity of 1700.54 MW during the financial year. And that out of this, 261.97 MW capacity was added in Gujarat – more than 15 percent of the total capacity that was added.

According to the data, out of the 261.97 MW installed, 183.51 MW is subsidised. Gujarat was followed by Maharashtra with 198.52 MW and Tamil Nadu with 151.62 MW addition. The reply also stated that no formal study has been done to assess the amount of power generated through solar panels on rooftops of houses.

While answering another related question, the minister revealed that the union government provided financial assistance and incentives worth Rs 678.01 crore in the financial year 2016-17 and Rs 446.7 crore in 2018-19, as part of the grid-connected rooftop solar programme.

Recently in a report issued by consultancy firm Bridge to India, it was revealed that the cumulative Indian rooftop solar installed capacity exceeded 4-GW mark as of March 31, 2019, reaching a total of 4,375 MW. The lion’s share of this capacity came from the industrial segment that contributed with 2,140 MW to the total while 926 MW came from the commercial segment.

The states of Maharashtra (618 MW), Rajasthan (393 MW), Gujarat (314 MW), Karnataka (298 MW) and Tamil Nadu (365 MW) are listed as the top 5 states by annual installation, accounting for a 60% share of the total rooftop solar market.

Despite the government’s push, the residential market continues to lag behind – it added 690 MW although it fared a tad better than the public sector that pooled in 619 MW by the reporting date.

The government aims to install rooftop solar capacity of 40,000 MW by 2022, and if it was to achieve that target capacity additions much greater than 1.7 GW a year must be facilitated.