India’s ambitious National Solar Mission (NSM) could propel the country’s cumulative solar PV capacity to beyond 20 GW in just over 12 months’ time, according to a report published today by the country’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
According to the latest data on MNRE’s GW Solar Plan report, India is likely to commission 12,161 MW of solar capacity between March 31 2016 and March 31 2017. This figure will propel the nation’s cumulative capacity to 21.2 GW of solar by that date, building on the 9,038 MW that India will reach by the end of March, the MNRE said.
The data revealed that India currently has 5,248 MW of installed solar PV capacity nationwide, but a strong end to financial year 2015/16 will see as much as 3,790 MW of additional solar generation capacity added to the grid by the end of March.
Tendering for solar projects already approved stands at 15,177 MW, meaning the MNRE is confident that the majority will likely be finished by the end of next fiscal year.
In anticipation of this growth in solar capacity, the MNRE has duly increased the target for the NSM to 100,000 MW by 2022, up from 20 GW previously.
