India on track for its best year in solar shows report

In the first nine months of 2024, solar projects totaling 16.4GW were added in India, an increase of over 167% compared to 6.2GW in the same period in 2023.

This is according to the newly released Q3 2024 India Solar Market Update by Mercom India Research.

The report shows that in the first nine months of 2024, India added 22.4GW of new power capacity. Renewable sources, including large hydro, accounted for almost 83%, while solar alone accounted for over 73% of new capacity additions.

In the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, 3.5GW of solar capacity was commissioned. Installations dropped almost 28% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) compared to 4.9GW in Q2 2024. Capacity additions rose by more than 78% year-over-year (YoY) compared to 2GW in Q3 2023.

Installations declined in Q3 due to delays in grid connectivity, challenges with land acquisition, disruptions caused by monsoon conditions on construction activities, and a shortage of modules meeting domestic content requirement standards.

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When comparing YoY, large-scale solar capacity additions rose almost 77% from the 1.6GW installed in Q3 2023. Solar open access projects accounted for nearly 39% of large-scale solar installations in Q3 2024.

Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group, commented in a statement: "India is on track for its best year in solar, but significant challenges threaten to slow progress. Grid connectivity issues, land availability, and supply constraints are already impacting momentum. Without urgent improvements in transmission infrastructure and land access, solar growth risks falling short of targets; the tender trajectory alone will not be sufficient to meet 2030 goals. It's clear that current priorities need urgent strategic realignment."

According to the India Solar Market Update, as of September 2024, India's cumulative installed solar capacity stood at 89.1GW. Utility-scale projects accounted for more than 86%, and rooftop solar accounted for almost 14% of cumulative installations.

In the first nine months of 2024, 57.6GW of tenders were announced, the highest ever in the nine months of any year previously. The tendered capacity issued from January to September 2024 increased by more than 40% compared to 41.1GW in the same period 2023.

India's solar module and cell imports rose by more than 27% QoQ but dropped almost 19% YoY. Exports were down 55% QoQ and nearly 62% drop YoY.

The average cost of large-scale solar projects was down 1% QoQ and was lower by almost 23% YoY.