Data from India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) reveals that, measured at the AC end, India’s new photovoltaic (PV) installations more than doubled year-on-year in 2024, reaching a new record of 24.5GW. This dominated the growth of renewable energy in India, accounting for 47% of the cumulative installed renewable energy capacity. As of March 2024, India’s theoretical PV development potential was estimated at 748.98GW. Meanwhile, new wind power installations amounted to 3.4GW, up 21% year-on-year.
Of the 24.5GW of new PV installations in 2024, utility-scale projects contributed 18.5GW, approximately 2.8 times the same period last year. Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu together accounted for 71% of this capacity.
The residential PV market also experienced robust growth, increasing by 53% to 4.59GW, mainly driven by the Indian government’s flagship “World’s Largest Residential PV Program.” According to MNRE, this program facilitated the installation of 700,000 residential PV systems within 10 months of its launch in 2024. The program aims to achieve 30GW of installed capacity and over 1 million installations by March 2025, with a target of 10 million installations by 2027.
The off-grid PV sector also shone, with new installations of 1.48GW in 2024, up 182% year-on-year, reflecting growing demand for PV in rural India.
Another key government program, PM-KUSUM, provides financial support for PV irrigation systems in rural agricultural areas. MNRE stated that this program contributed about 11.34GW of PV installations from January to November 2024.
As of late 2024 to January 2025, India’s cumulative PV installed capacity reached 97.86GW, a 10.8-fold increase from 9.01GW in March 2016. This includes 75.19GW of ground-mounted stations, 15.67GW of grid-connected residential PV, 4.23GW of off-grid PV, and 2.77GW of hybrid PV projects.
As of January 2025, India’s total installed non-fossil energy capacity had increased to 217.62GW, with a national target of raising this to 500GW by 2030.
