From January to September 2024, India added about 17,444 MW of solar and 2,627 MW of wind capacity. This represents a significant increase of 105.8% for solar installations and 14.8% for wind installations compared to the same period in 2023. Notably, the total solar capacity added during the first nine months of 2024 is the highest recorded capacity in any previous year.
With these additions, India's total installed renewable energy (RE) capacity reached 201.46 GW as of September 2024. Solar energy accounts for approximately 45% of the total RE segment, making it the largest contributor among renewable sources.
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 September 2024, India added about 13.2 GW of new utility-scale solar capacity, marking a significant increase of about 160.9% compared to the installations during January to September 2023. This surge can be attributed to the government's initiative to issue bids for 50 GW of RE capacity annually over the next five years. This initiative has strengthened the market, providing stability for both public sector undertakings (PSUs) and private companies.
In the first nine months of 2024, Rajasthan leads with 4.96 GW capacity, followed by Gujarat with 3.13 GW and Tamil Nadu with 1.57 GW.
Rooftop Solar:During first nine months of 2024, India added about 3.2 GW of new rooftop solar capacity, a 7.3% increase compared to the first nine months of 2023 installations. The increase can be attributed to the launch of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. This initiative encourages the installation of rooftop solar in the C&I segment, as well as government buildings.
Offgrid Solar:In the offgrid/distributed solar segment, about 1035 MW was added in the first nine months of 2024, which is about 2.5 times higher than the installations in the same period last year.
Figure 2: Solar and Wind capacity addition trends in India Source: MNRE, JMK Research
Wind: In the wind sector, about 2.6 GW of new capacity was added in the first nine months of 2024, up by 14.8% from the 2.3 GW added in the first nine months of 2023. Gujarat (985 MW), Karnataka (968 MW) and Tamil Nadu (613 MW) accounted for about 97% of the new wind capacity added during this period.
It is expected that India will surpass record solar installation of over 20 GW in CY2024, while wind installations are projected to cross 3 GW mark.
