India installed 6.9 GW of open access (offsite C&I) solar capacity in year 2024, an increase of over 77% compared to the 3.9 GW installed in 2023 and a record for annual capacity additions, according to the newly released report by Mercom India, Q4 & Annual 2024 India Solar Open Access Market Report.
With this, cumulative installed solar capacity in the open access segment reached 20.2 GW as of December 2024. Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat had the highest cumulative installed solar open access capacity, accounting for around 25%, 16%, and 12%. Projects in pipeline stood at 25.7 GW (including projects under development and in the pre-construction phase) at the end of Q4 2024.
The Mercom report stated that the availability of low-cost Chinese modules due to imports before the reimposition of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) order and for the exempted projects after the order reimposition drove the record capacity additions in 2024.
“Open access installations saw remarkable growth in 2024 as businesses increasingly prioritized cleaner power generation to meet green mandates and reduce electricity costs. However, rising component prices, along with land procurement and grid connectivity hurdles, are creating challenges,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. “To maintain this growth trajectory, the deadline for inter-state transmission system (ISTS) charge exemptions, set to expire on June 30, must be extended. Without it, continued growth in the open access segment could be at risk.”
Maharashtra topped with almost 18% of the annual open access PV installations. Rajasthan and Karnataka followed with around 15% and 14% to the annual capacity additions, respectively.
In Q4, India added the second-highest quarterly solar open access capacity of 2.1 GW, up more than 92% from 1.1 GW in Q3 2024 and a nearly 142% increase from 852.7 MW in Q4 2023.
With the rise in prices for domestic modules during the quarter, projects mandated to use ALMM enlisted modules and projects eligible to import modules in Q4 rushed to add capacities to avoid higher project costs.
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat led the quarterly installations, contributing almost 24%, 21%, and 20% to the capacity additions.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.