Solar Energy Market in India - Q1 2023

From standalone utility scale - to rooftops - to mini & micro grids - to hybrid RE generation -to battery energy storage systems - to solar pumps -to floating solar - to other decentralized installations, the solar energy applications in India are increasing in length & breadth. The rapid maturation of solar energy segment in the country has nothing been short of astonishing. It was not long ago that solar energy space in India was driven handful of players with major focus upon utility scale developments only and that too small capacity projects. This was purely of the fact that project costs of solar were 4-5 times higher than that of conventional energy (coal precisely). But, over the past decade the project cost of solar has plummeted and today its hovers between INR 3-4 crores/MW. Many deep pocketed national and international players are nurturing this industry and have also announced staggering capacity expansion targets.

From developers - to OEMs - to EPC - development agencies- financial institutions - investment banking etc. across the globe are eying upon the solar energy market in India. This has led the solar installed capacity to 64 GW as of Jan 2023 from 2.63 GW as of Mar 2014, with a dramatic CAGR of 41%. But this growth would not have been possible without Government of India’s supportive policies at concurrent level. This momentum has only increased in the past one year as many landmark decisions has been announced by the GoI to push solar energy generation along with other renewables in the country. One of the recent announcement is Renewable Generation Obligation (RGO). Although, it was added to the National Tariff Policy 2016 as an enabling provision. But on Feb 27 2023, It has been decided that any generating company establishing a coal or lignite-based thermal generating station and having the Commercial Operation Date (COD) of the project on or after 1 April 2023 will be required to establish RGO of a minimum of 40 per cent of the capacity of a coal power plant or procure and supply RE equivalent to such capacity. In addition, a coal or lignite-based thermal generating station with a COD between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2025 must comply with a 40 per cent RGO by 1 April 2025, and projects with a commissioning date after 1 April 2025 must comply by COD. This clearly indicates a serious business opportunity to be tapped across the solar energy space. To tap this opportunity, the industry stakeholders need a constant up-to-date market insight & to support these requirements, the author has launched the quarterly insight on India’s Solar Energy Market and plans to produce a series of cyclic market research studies on green and new energy market space in India.