India Adds 11GW Solar Capacities In The First 5 Months Of 2024

India Adds 11GW Solar Capacities In The First 5 Months Of 2024

The latest statistics from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) revealed that India added around 11 GW of new solar capacities in the first five months of 2024. However, wind capacity additions remained on a lower side.

The latest monthly renewable energy capacity report from the MNRE said that India added 2463.82 MW of new solar capacities in the month of May 2024. This is in contrast to the total solar power additions of only 743 in May 2023. Solar power additions in May 2024 thus witnessed a 231 percent rise on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis. 

Data compared by Saur Energy from January to May this year revealed that the country added 10,958.93 MW of new solar capacities in the first five months of 2024. India’s current solar capacity has now touched 84.277 GW. 

Wind Capacity

The capacity addition of wind power in India is not at par with the progress of solar power. The MNRE statistics revealed that in the month of May 2024, India added only 535.36 MW of new wind capacities. 

On the other hand, during the same month in 2023, India added 330 MW of new wind capacities. Thus, there was a 62 percent increase in new wind capacity additions in May on a YoY basis. 

Data compared by Saur Energy from January to May revealed that the country added a total of 1.686 GW of new wind capacities in the first five months of 2024.

India’s Total Renewable Capacity

India’s total renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro) now stands at 146.65 GW as per the data from MNRE . On the other hand, India’s total non-fossil fuel capacity (including large hydro) stands at 193.57 GW. This comes at a time when the Indian government has committed to take the total non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 GW by 2030. That means, India has to add around 306.5 GW of new non-fossil fuel capacities in the next seven years. 

With several power reforms like revised Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs), new Green Energy Open Access Rules, new policy on Pumped Hydro Projects, increased tenders on energy storage and others are likely to create more demand for the investors. On the other hand, entry of more power companies into the utility-scale and energy storage markets hint at a changing dynamics of the Indian renewable market.