India doubles nine-month open-access solar installations to 1.9 GW  

India added about 1.9 GW of open-access solar capacity in the first nine months of 2022, a 96% increase from 956 MW installed in the same period last year. With this, the nation surpassed 7 GW of cumulative open-access solar installation as of September 30, 2022, according to Mercom India’s Solar Open Access Market Report Q3 2022.

Karnataka tops with almost 38% (around 2.7 GW) share of the country’s cumulative 7 GW open-access solar capacity installations. Maharashtra has installed the second-largest open-access solar capacity (801 MW, around 11%).

The report cites high electricity tariffs, timely approvals by distribution companies (DISCOMs), and a favorable regulatory framework as the major drivers for open-access solar expansion in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

The nation added 596 MW of open-access solar capacity in Q3 2022, which is 91% more than the 312 MW installed in Q3 2021.

As of September 30, over 5 GW of open-access PV projects were in the pipeline (under development and pre-construction phase).

“The demand by corporates for solar under the open access route has been phenomenal. The growth would have been steeper if not for the supply constraints and price increase. The pipeline of projects to be commissioned is impressive and bigger than ever,” said Priya Sanjay, managing director at Mercom India. “While the demand has mostly been from large corporates, there is a huge untapped market of SMEs and MSMEs due to lack of awareness.”