An Indian ratings agency has projected that the expected solar power capacity addition in the country during the current fiscal will be significantly lower than the government’s own target.
CARE Ratings claims that only 5.2 GW of solar power capacity is expected to be added between April 2016 and March 2017. This capacity is sharply lower than the target set by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — 12 GW.
The markdown is despite the fact that several state governments, the central government and a number of public sector companies auctioned very large capacity over the last 12 months.
The report issued by CARE does not paint the picture as a grim one though. The report itself mentions that an increasing number of states have come out with the aggressive solar power policies and targets.
At the end of June 2016 India’s renewable energy capacity stood at just over 44 GW including 7.8 GW solar power capacity. More than 1 GW solar power capacity was added during the first three months of the financial year.
The CARE report further states that an estimated 8 GW capacity will be added during the next financial year of 2017-18. This, again, would be a massive reduction compared to the annual capacity addition targets announced by the Indian government.
The Indian government has set a target for 100 GW installed solar power capacity by March 2022. To achieve this, the government plans to add 15-17 GW every year starting 2017-18, hoping that the installed capacity at the beginning of the fiscal year would be around 19 GW.
Still looks like right around a doubling in a year.