India's solar power capacity now exceeds 12GW

NEW DELHI - India added 5,525MW of solar power generation capacity last fiscal year (2016/17), taking the total available to 12,288 MW. The country’s solar power potential which has been estimated at 748GW, according to New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal.

India achieved total cumulative solar power generation capacity of 6,763MW in 2015-16, a capacity which increased from 1,686MW in 2012-13, 2,632MW in 2013-14 and to 3,744MW in 2014-15.

In a statement to India’s Parliament, Goyal said the Government envisages achieving 4,800MW from rooftop solar and 7,200MW from large-scale solar power projects across the country.

India has plans to add 5,000MW of rooftop solar and 10,000MW from large-scale solar power projects in the current fiscal year (2017/18), he said.

Andhra Pradesh had the largest cumulative solar generation capacity of 1,867MW as at March 31, 2017 followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu at 1,812MW and 1,691MW respectively.

Goyal said India will achieve 40% cumulative electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030. This will be done with the help of technology transfer and low cost international finance, he said.  (ATI).