India installed 7.5GW of solar and 2.4GW of wind in 2019

India’s renewable energy capacity increased to 86GW in 2019, according to new figures from JMK Research & Analytics, with 7.5GW of new utility-scale solar capacity being added, and 2.4 GW of new wind power capacity.

Indian clean energy consultancy firm JMK Research & Analytics published Indian renewable energy capacity addition data last week based on data provided by the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The country’s renewable energy capacity increased to 86GW, with wind energy providing 44% of the country’s renewable energy mix, followed by solar with 39%.

In 2019, around 7.5GW of new utility-scale solar capacity was added, a 14% increase over 2018 with another 1GW of rooftop solar installations reported. The southwest Indian state of Karnataka led the way with 2GW of new solar capacity added, followed by the state of Rajasthan with 1.7GW, Tamil Nadu with 1.5GW, Gujarat with 936MW, Andhra Pradesh with 917MW, and Madhya Pradesh with651 MW.

Unfortunately, total solar capacity additions fell short of projections due in large part to project delays across the industry and which are now likely to be commissioned in the first half of 2020.

These project delays were caused by a variety of issues, including land acquisition issues, execution delays, delays caused by secondary power off-takers in submitting approvals, policy uncertainty, and the withdrawal of open access benefits, re-tendering, etc.

While wind energy accounts for a larger share of India’s current renewable energy share, it nevertheless accounted for a smaller increase in 2019 capacity additions, installing 2.4GW, increasing total wind capacity by 10%.

Again, however, the majority of wind projects allocated in 2018 and scheduled to be commissioned in 2019 were delayed and are now set to be commissioned this year. These delays were primarily due to various land availability issues and lack of grid transmission availability.

The westernmost state of Gujarat installed the lion’s share of new wind capacity, installing 1.4 GW, followed by Tamil Nadu with 650 MW and Maharashtra with 212 MW.