India's solar energy capacity expanded by record 5,525 MW in 2016-17
Ecomomic Times reported that India’s solar energy capacity has expanded by a record 5,525.98 MW in 2016-17, according to the latest figures provided by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE).
In comparison, India had added 3,010 MW of solar capacity in 2015-16, which shows that growth nearly doubled over the past year. Cumulative solar capacity currently stands at 12,288.83 MW, against 6,762.85 MW at the end of March 2016.
Officials said the ministry has strived hard to expand solar power generation as the power, coal, renewable energy and mines minister Piyush Goyal has set such ambitious targets that the growth is impressive even if it falls short of the target. The cumulative target the MNRE had set earlier was 17,000 MW by the end of 2016-17.
Santosh Vaidya, joint secretary at MNRE, said that “By the end of next year, our minister has committed to a cumulative target of 20,000 MW. This would mean adding another 7,750 MW in 2017-18. Once we do so, we will have reached the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) target two years in advance.”
The JNNSM had initially set a target of 20,000 MW of solar capacity by 2020. However, that was scaled upwards by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he took over in 2014, raising it to 100,000 MW of solar power by 2022.
Among the states, Andhra Pradesh added the maximum solar capacity in 2016-17 (1,294.26 MW), followed by Karnataka (882.38 MW) and Telangana (759.13 MW). Other major additions were in Rajasthan (543 MW), Tamil Nadu (630.01 MW), Punjab (388 MW), Uttar Pradesh (193.24 MW) and Uttarakhand (192.35 MW).
With this year’s additions, Andhra Pradesh now leads in cumulative solar capacity among states (1,867.23 MW) displacing Rajasthan (1,812.93 MW), which had been No. 1for the past three years. Gujarat, which topped in solar generation for many years, is now at No. 4 with 1,249.37 MW, while Telangana with 1,286.98 MW is No. 3.
Source : Ecomomic Times