India’s large-scale solar project pipeline stood at 105.3 GW, with another 70.6 GW of projects tendered and pending auction

India witnessed a significant decline of 44 percent in solar installations, amounting to 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, attributed primarily to challenges in land acquisition, reports research firm Mercom Capital. The firm’s latest findings reveal that the country installed a total of 13.4 GW of solar capacity in 2022. As of December 2023, India’s cumulative installed solar capacity reached 72 GW, with utility-scale projects representing 85.4 percent and rooftop solar constituting 14.6 percent of the total capacity.

Mercom Capital’s report highlights a substantial drop of 51 percent in large-scale solar installations, falling to 5.8 GW from 11.7 GW in 2022. Delays in project completion, mainly due to land acquisition and transmission connectivity issues, impacted capacity additions during the year. Large-scale solar projects accounted for 77.2 percent of the total annual solar capacity additions, while rooftop solar contributed 22.8 percent.

Rajasthan emerged as the top state for cumulative large-scale solar capacity, followed by Karnataka and Gujarat, together constituting 54.8 percent of the country’s installations by December 2023. India’s large-scale solar project pipeline stood at 105.3 GW, with an additional 70.6 GW of projects tendered and pending auction, according to the report.

In terms of overall renewable energy capacity, including large hydropower projects, India reached 179.5 GW by December 2023, comprising 42 percent of the total power mix. Solar energy projects accounted for 48.5 percent of all new power capacity installed in the country last year. As of December 2023, solar energy constituted 16.9 percent of India’s total installed power capacity and nearly 40.1 percent of the total installed renewable energy capacity.