Highest in 3 years! India adds 2,488 MW solar capacity in Apr-Jun 2021: Report

Solar capacity addition in India jumped over 12-fold to 2,488 megawatt (MW) during April-June period of 2021 as compared to the year-ago period, according to Mercom India Research.

The solar capacity addition in the quarter under review was 19 per cent higher when compared to 2,090 MW installed in January-March (Q1) 2021, the research firm said in its report titled 'Q2 2021 India Solar Market Update'.

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"India added 2,488 MW of solar in the second quarter or Q2 of the calendar year 2021. The installations were up 1,114 per cent year-over-year compared to 205 MW added in Q2 2020 when COVID crippled the sector," it said.

Solar capacity addition in the period under review is the highest in a quarter since Q2 of 2018, the report said.

In January-June 2021, India added 4,578 MW (approximately 4.5 GW) of solar, a 251 per cent increase compared to the same period of last year.

Installations exceeded 3.2 GW (gigawatts) of solar installed in all of calender year 2020.

Installations were significantly higher than the previous quarter's despite various state level lockdowns due to COVID, the report said.

Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group said even with a strong quarter, the industry continues to battle uncertainties around higher component costs and logistics issues. With duties and import restrictions, purchasing quality solar components at the best price will be the biggest challenge for the industry.

He further said the demand for building large-scale projects is extremely high, while auctions have slowed down. The government focus has shifted towards building domestic manufacturing capacities. According to the report, at the end of June quarter 2021, cumulative solar installations reached 43.6 GW.

India's large-scale solar project development pipeline stands at 52.8 GW, along with 28 GW of projects tendered and pending auction at the end of Q2 2021.