Solar installations fall 44% in 2023, says report

India has reported a 44 per cent fall in solar installations at 7.5 gigawatts in 2023 due to land acquisition-related issues, research firm Mercom Capital said on Thursday. According to the US-based research firm's latest report, a total of 13.4 gigawatts (GW) solar capacity was installed in the country in 2023.

As of December 2023, the cumulative installed solar capacity stood at 72 GW. Of which utility-scale projects accounted for 85.4 per cent, and rooftop solar accounted for 14.6 per cent, the report said.
"In 2023, large-scale solar installations fell 51 per cent to 5.8 GW from 11.7 GW in 2022. Extensions granted to several large-scale projects and delays primarily due to land (acquisition) and transmission (connectivity) issues impacted capacity additions during the year. Large-scale solar accounted for 77.2 per cent of annual solar capacity additions, and rooftop solar contributed 22.8 per cent," it said.

Rajasthan followed by Karnataka, and Gujarat were the top three states for cumulative large-scale solar capacity, accounting for 54.8 per cent of installations in the country as of December 2023.
India's large-scale solar project pipeline stood at 105.3 GW, with another 70.6 GW of projects tendered and pending auction, the report said. The country's installed renewable energy capacity, including large hydropower projects, stood at 179.5 GW, accounting for 42 per cent of the overall power mix at the end of December 2023.

Solar energy projects accounted for 48.5 per cent of all new power capacity installed last year. As of December 2023, solar energy accounted for 16.9 per cent of India's total installed power capacity and almost 40.1 per cent of the total installed renewable energy capacity.