Solar projects commissioned by India to reach 3.8GW in 2016

According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), solar projects commisioned under the Indian Government are likely to reach 3,790MW in 2016.

Solar projects commissioned under government of India and state policies are likely to reach 3,790MW within the year 2015/16, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

The Indian government expects 570MW to come online under its own initiatives and 3,220MW under state policies within this financial year, having already seen 1,504MW commissioned so far.

However, Jasmeet Khurana, associate director at consultancy firm Bridge to India told PV Tech: “The government hopes that it will increase to 3.8 GW by the end of March. However, we think that many of these projects will slip to the next financial year.”

Even without taking Bridge to India’s carry over into account, MNRE projects a vast increase in capacity additions in 2016/17 of 12,161MW

Overall, the total commissioned capacity in India under both government and private schemes has now reached 5,248MW as of 31 January 2016.

Individual state policies will see the highest amounts brought online in Andhra Pradesh (529MW), Madhya Pradesh (432MW), Tamil Nadu (500MW) and Telangana (900MW).

In related news, Indian power minister Piyush goyal recently announced that India is expected to spend US$1 trillion by 2030 on ramping up its power infrastructure. However as a new report released last week suggests, India may lack enough skilled manpower in order to meet the rapid growth in demand for renewable energy projects.