In H12024, from January to June, India added about 12,156 MW of solar capacity and 1,920 MW of wind capacity. This marks a 78.9% increase for solar installations and 2.3% for wind installations compared to the same period in 2023. Notably, the total capacity added in the first half of 2024 has already surpassed the total additions in CY2023. Solar and wind capacity added in H12024 outpaced CY2023 installations.
With these new additions, India's total installed renewable energy (RE) capacity reached 195 GW as of June 2024. Solar energy accounts for approximately 44% of the total installed RE capacity, making it the largest contributor.
Figure 1: RE installation trends in India Source: CEA, MNRE, JMK Research Note: Solar capacity includes utility-scale solar, rooftop solar, and off-grid/distributed solar capacity Utility Scale Solar: From January to June 2024, India added about 9.6 GW of new utility-scale solar capacity, which is about 2.3 times higher compared to the installations during January-June 2023. The significant increase attributed to the Indian government's exemption of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) until March 2024. As a result, India witnessed around 7.5 GW utility-scale solar installations in Q1 2024 (Jan-Mar), with 5.3 GW installed in March 2024 alone.
Additionally, the reduction in module prices, driven by lower cell prices in China in the latter half of 2023, along with the commissioning of long-pending SECI, RUMSL, NHPC, etc. tenders have contributed to the increase in solar installations in H12024.
In this segment, in H12024, Rajasthan leads with a capacity of 3.2 GW, followed by Gujarat with 2.9 GW and Tamil Nadu with 1 GW.
Rooftop Solar: In H12024, India added about 1.8 GW of new rooftop solar capacity, which is about 19.6% lesser than the H12023 installations. However, to boost the country's share of solar rooftop capacity, the Government of India approved the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana in February 2024. With an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, India is expected to add more than 2 GW of new rooftop solar capacity in H22024.
Off-grid Solar: In the off-grid/distributed solar segment, about 688 MW was added in H12024, which is about 2.3 times higher than the last year's installations in the same period.
Figure 2: Solar capacity addition trends in India Source: MNRE, JMK Research
Wind: In the wind sector, about 1.9 GW of new capacity was added in H12024, slightly up from the 1.87 GW added in H12023. Karnataka (874 MW) and Gujarat (629 MW) were the leading states, accounting for about 80% of the new wind capacity added in H1 2024.
In the second half of 2024, an additional 2.6 GW of wind capacity is expected to be added, while an additional 8-9 GW of solar capacity is also anticipated. The solar sector is on track to achieve the highest ever annual installations in India, with CY2024 contributing significantly to this groundbreaking progress.
