By the end of June 2024, India had a cumulative installed PV capacity of 87.2 GW. Currently, PV accounts for 19.5% of all electricity installed and more than 44% of all renewable energy installed.
Several previously delayed projects benefited from increased capacity in the first half of the year and were also commissioned in the first half of the year.
In the second quarter, 4.3GW of large-scale PV projects were commissioned, including nearly 1.8GW of open-ended projects. While large-scale solar capacity additions were down 55% sequentially, they were up 191% year-over-year.
India's Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (“ALMM”) impacted several open access projects. Delays in grid connectivity and transmission infrastructure further impacted the increase in large-scale solar projects during the quarter.
In the second quarter of 2024, new PV capacity increased by 170% YoY to 5GW from 1.8GW in 2023. However, installations were down 49% YoY compared to last year's 9.9GW.Priyadarshini Sanjay, Director, Mercom India, emphasized that the sequential decline does not indicate a trend. The surge in installations in the last quarter was due to everyone rushing to install before the April 2024 reimposition of ALMM.
Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka led the way in massively increasing their solar installations, accounting for 30%, 22% and 21% of the total quarterly installations, respectively.
Tenders totaled 10.7GW in Q2 2024, down 22% from 13.6GW in Q2 2023 and down 65% sequentially from 30.7GW in the first quarter.
Sanjay pointed out that it could be due to the delay in the announcement of this year's bidding trajectory by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) coupled with higher prices after the re-imposition of ALMM leading to a scaling down of tendered projects.
Solar module and cell imports were down 61% sequentially and 16% year-on-year. Exports were down nearly 30% sequentially and only slightly year-on-year.
The average cost of large solar projects declined by 2% YoY and 26% YoY, improving project IRRs. However, with the implementation of ALMM, this trend may reverse as Indian modules, especially Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) modules, are more expensive and supply may struggle to meet the growing demand.
With strong demand in the commercial and industrial (C&I) market, Sanjay expects demand for open access and rooftop solar to grow significantly.
Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ox-Yy4ZDSba0ll1wTtZ1Dw
