Mercom India Research

That meant the nation reached a cumulative 4.8GW of “open-access” solar generation capacity by the end of September. At that point, there were also more than 1.1GW of open access projects in the development pipeline, according to analyst Mercom India Solar.

India’s open-access solar installations in the first half of 2021 were 1,230% up from 47 MW installed in 1H 2020. Uttar Pradesh led the installations, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

With large projects contributing 78% of the new capacity, the nation installed less than half the 7.3 GW added in 2019 and recorded its poorest figures in five years, according to a Mercom India report.

The 438 MW of new solar capacity added during the three months ending September includes 283 MW from large-scale installations and 155 MW rooftop.

Mercom India Research has said the quarterly value of solar cell and module imports was down 83% in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period of 2019, to sit 54% lower than the value recorded in the January-to-March window.

Solar installations fell 49% year-on-year in the first three months of 2019, with rooftop PV additions plunging as installers struggled to secure approval for projects immediately before the general election, according to new statistics from Mercom India Research.

The level of new solar capacity – 8,263 MW – however, was 15.5% down from the 9,782 MW added in 2017 owing to safeguarding duty and GST taking a toll on large-scale PV. While utility-scale solar declined 23% year-on-year, rooftop PV remained a bright spot, and registered impressive growth of 66%.

Record growth continues as India installed 2,247 MW of solar projects in Q3 2017, up 15% from Q2 2017. The total installation at the end of 2017 is expected to range from 9.5 GW to 10 GW. The 7 GW solar installation in first nine months covered more than one-third of total new power capacity addition in 2017.