Nearly 27 GW of new Solar Capacity Added in India in Last Three Years

A total of approximately 27 GW (26967.75 MW) of new solar capacity has been installed in India over the last three years in India.

A total of approximately 27 GW (26967.75 MW) of new solar capacity has been installed in India over the last three years i.e. from 2016-17 to 2018-19 and the current year till December 31, 2019, in India. In that period, Karnataka is well ahead of all of the other states and Union Territories (UTs) with over 7 GW (7128.41 MW) of new solar installations in the southern state alone.

The information was provided by the Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, RK Singh while answering a question raised in the upper house of the parliament recently.

According to the data issued by the minister, behind Karnataka, with 3572.93 MW of installed solar capacity is Rajasthan, followed by Tamil Nadu – with 2723.45 MW of new capacity installed over the last three years.

The minister was answering a question on the capacity being created for the generation of Solar power during the last three years, State- wise? “A cumulative solar power capacity of 26.97 GW has been installed during the last three years i.e. from 2016-17 to 2018-19 and current year till December 31, 2019, in the country,” the minister said.

Furthermore, 2017-18 recorded the maximum new installations with the total for the year surpassing 9 GW at 9362.67 MW. Well ahead of 5526 MW (in 2016-17), 6529.23 MW (2018-19), and comfortable ahead of 5549.85 MW in the current fiscal (until December 31, 2019) with only one quarter remaining.

The minister was also asked to detail the amount of funds that have been allocated to various States during the last three years for the development of New and Renewable Energy projects especially for solar power generation, and the amount of funds actually utilised by the States during the last three years.

In his response, the minister said that “Today most of the utility-scale grid-connected solar & wind energy projects in the country are being implemented by the private sector developers selected through transparent & competitive bidding process.

“However, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been providing assistance in the form of Central Financial Assistance (CFA), interalia, for setting up of rooftop solar power plants, canal top solar plants, solar parks, decentralised/ off-grid solar systems including home lighting system, solar street lighting, standalone solar-powered agricultural pumps, transmission infrastructure under Green Energy Corridor program, etc.”

The details of the financial records show that well over Rs 3000 crore in funds have been released as CFA to all the states/ UTs and the central agencies which include (IREDA, SECI, NISE, NIWE, NIBE, NTPC, etc)in the current fiscal (until February 10, 2020). While the amount of funds released in the entire fiscal year 2018-2019 were well over Rs 4300 crore.

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