India to install 5.8 GW of solar in 2 years - Mercom

Clean energy consulting firm Mercom Capital Group LLC expects about 2,150 MW of solar power capacity to be installed across India in 2015, followed by roughly 3,645 MW the next calendar year.

This substantial year-on-year growth, which follows several years of stagnation, can be mainly attributed to a series of risky, yet effective, energy-related legislative moves, Mercom CEO and co-founder, Raj Prabhu, noted. “The pent up demand due to auction delays is leading to aggressive bidding in an effort to capture market share with an assumption that component costs will continue to fall no matter what,” he added.

At present, the country’s cumulative solar capacity amounts to 4,816 MW, approximately 1,652 MW of which were added since January 2015, according to the company’s latest quarterly report on the Indian solar market. The South Asian country also has 7,774 MW of solar schemes, including 280 MW of solar thermal, under development.

Mercom’s latest update also unveils that 21 Indian states have agreed to build 27 solar parks with a combined capacity of 18,418 MW, each of which will be of at least 500 MW. About 5,500 MW more are to be auctioned over the next months between The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

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