India solar deployments soar 280% to 8.8 gigawatts so far in 2021

PV Tech:

India installed around 8,811MW of solar between January and September 2021, a 280% increase on the same period of 2020, according to JMK Research & Analytics.

The consultancy, which previously forecasted that 2021 will be a “landmark year” for solar in India, said the heightened deployment is mainly a result of projects being commissioned that were delayed last year because of COVID-19 disruptions.

Of the country’s total solar installs between January and September 2021, 2,068MW were rooftop systems, a 134% rise on the same time last year, with the state of Gujarat accounting for a quarter of rooftop additions thanks in part to policy support, JMK said.

Four states – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra – were said to account for more than two-thirds of all solar additions during the nine months, with Rajasthan leading in terms of utility-scale deployment. Independent power producer ReNew Power recently commissioned a 250MW plant in the state.

[Jules Scully]

More: India deployed 8.8GW of solar in 2021 so far, up 280% on last year