India forecast to miss its 2022 100-GW solar target, report states

India is expected to miss its 2022 target of 100 GW of installed solar capacity by 27%, and on the current course will likely be short by about 86 GW of its solar target of 300 GW by 2030, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and JMK Research.

India had 55 GW of installed solar capacity at the end of 2021 and is forecast to add 19 GW this year, including 15.8 GW of utility-scale systems and 3.5 GW of rooftop solar.

The 100-GW target is split between 60 GW of utility-scale and 40 GW of rooftop solar capacity. While the utility-scale solar sector will miss the mark by 1.8 GW, the 40-GW rooftop solar target will be undercut by 25 GW by December 2022.

According to the report authors, rooftop solar and open access, or offsite, solar installations have been handicapped by challenges such as pandemic-related supply chain disruption and policy restrictions.

“Central and state government policies and regulations must be aligned to support the solar sector overall, and especially the ailing rooftop and open access segments of the market,” said co-author Akhil Thayillam of JMK Research.

The report makes a number of recommendations to get the solar targets back on track. For instance, it proposes consistent regulations for net metering and banking facilities in the short term and long-term measures such as stricter enforcement of the renewable purchase obligation (RPO) and reduced cross-subsidy surcharge for commercial and industrial consumers.

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