NLC, SB Energy, ReNew Power Develops Maximum Solar Capacity in FY20

Navratna company NLC, SoftBank-backed SB Energy, and ReNew Power, country’s largest renewable energy IPP, were the leading project developers added maximum solar energy capacity in FY20, as per the research and advisory services firm report.

On the state level in solar, Rajasthan added a maximum capacity of 1.8 GW, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1.3 GW and Karnataka with 1.1 GW in FY20. Moreover, these 3 states jointly contributed about 74 percent of all utility-scale solar installations in India in FY2020, says JMK Research.

As per MNRE, India added about 5.7 GW of new utility-scale solar capacity in FY20, which is about 24 percent lesser than the government target of 7.5 GW set for this year. Compared to previous year installations, FY20 installations are also marginally lesser (~1 percent), added the report.

On the wind energy front, India added about 2.1 GW of new wind energy capacity in FY20, which is nearly 30 percent lesser than the government’s target of 3 GW set for FY20. However, when compared to previous year installations, wind installations are approx 31 percent higher in FY20.

Under state level, Gujarat led the installations with the commissioning of 1.4 GW of new wind projects, followed by Tamil Nadu at 335 MW and Maharashtra at 206 MW.

According to the report, Inox, SembCorp, Mytrah, ReNew Power, and Greenko were the leading players who added maximum wind capacity in FY20.

In Q4 FY20, about 715 MW of new solar capacity and 189 MW of new wind capacity were added. These numbers are significantly lesser than the research agency’s projections of over 3 GW of new solar capacity and 1 GW of wind capacity expected in this quarter.

One of the reasons cited by the research firm was a delay in the commissioning of projects can be the impact of lockdown in China starting Jan 2020 and then in India due to the COVID-19 issue.

In Q1 FY21 also, JMK predicted the impact of coronavirus because of which significant delays are expected in the construction activity as well as commissioning schedule of solar and wind projects.