The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has released its latest solar PV installation figures for April to July.
Overall, 1.3 GW of ground-mounted solar plants were grid connected in this period, thus bringing cumulative capacity to around 22 GW. In comparison, the rooftop sector saw a paltry 159.02 MW installed, to achieve a total capacity of 12.2 GW.
Renewable energy grid connected capacity in India now stands at 71.5 GW, comprising wind, solar, biomass and waste to power. While wind is the current energy leader, solar is fast catching up, having comprised the majority of the 1.74 GW installed in the four month period.
Dharmendra Kumar, solar analyst at IHS Markit tells pv magazine, “Usually installations after completion of financial year (April to March 2018) is comparatively low in India, and the same can be seen with the installation numbers from April to July 2018.
“However, rooftop installations have always been a matter of concern because of very low installations in residential sector. Most of the rooftop installations demand is coming from commercial and industrial sector, and this demand is expected to grow even more in coming years.”
Responding to current module prices in India, on the back of China’s PV policy changes at the end of May, and the imposition of the recent safeguard duties, he said they have come down considerably, when compared to previous quarter.
“A lucky lot of Developers who have already ordered their module shipment, won’t have to pay to safeguard duty until further notification by the government. ‘Hold on safeguard duty’ may also pave way for low tariff projects that were awarded recently. Installations in second half of the year will be highly dependent over safeguard duty and anti-dumping duty results.”
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Kudos to the present government for setting sights on harness of solar power directly on the sun without which this achievement would not have been possible. The output figures are not so attractive when viewed from the target prism which is 100 GW by 2022. But when viewed through the lens of mounting uncertainties and market casinos , the figures are encouraging. Setting up facilities in developing countries is beset with many ordeals and India is no exception to this rule. Without brooding over sluggish figures of roof top solar, concerted concentration on grid connected Solar will enable India reach the target .