India experienced a significant 44% decline in solar installations in 2023, according to the latest report from Mercom India Research.
In 2023, India added 7.5 GW of solar capacity, a sharp drop from the 13.4 GW installed in 2022. Large-scale solar installations took the biggest hit, decreasing by 50.8% to 5.8 GW from the previous year’s 11.7 GW.
Large-scale projects made up 77.2% of the annual additions, with rooftop solar contributing 22.8%.
Q4 2023 saw an addition of 1.8 GW of solar systems, a 6.6% drop from Q3 2023 and a significant 41.3% decline from Q4 2022.
As of December 2023, India’s total installed solar capacity reached 72 GW. Delayed large-scale projects granted extensions between December 2022 and June 2023 are expected to boost installations in 2024.
Despite the overall decrease, there’s a positive note on costs. Q4 2023 recorded the lowest-ever quarterly average project cost, down 14.3% from the previous quarter and an impressive 26.6% from the same period in 2022.
Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Gujarat lead in cumulative large-scale solar capacity, accounting for 54.8% of installations by December 2023.
Despite the challenging year, India’s large-scale solar project pipeline stands at 105.3 GW, with an additional 70.6 GW tendered and awaiting auction, said Mercom.
Solar contributed 48.5% to new power capacity in 2023, aligning with the broader trend of renewable energy sources making up 68.2% of new power capacity during the year.
