India Tendered Out 43 GW Of New Solar Power Projects In 2019-20, Much Higher Than Total Installed Capacity Of 35 GW

In a remarkable development, India tendered out a massive 43 gigawatt (GW) of solar power projects in the 2019-20, of which auctions were completed for as much as 38 GW and capacity allocations completed for 26 GW, reports Hindu Businessline.

The push for tendering and auctioning of solar power projects comes as the Government goes all out to achieve the target of having 100 GW solar power generation capacity by 2021-22. The target was set by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi during his first term.

It should be noted that as of June-end, India has a total of 35 GW of solar power generation capacity. Thus, the total amount of new 38 GW projects auctioned off in the previous year stands even higher than the capacity achieved over the past several years.

Also, rise in tendering and auctioning also comes as a big boost for the sector, given in the same year the total addition of new solar power generation capacity stood at 5.9 GW for utility-scale projects, and 1.7 GW for rooftop projects.

Rajasthan (1.7 GW), Karnataka (1.4 GW) and Tamil Nadu (1.3 GW) accounted for 77 per cent of the total installations during the year.

Further, it should be noted that of the total 43 GW projects bid out, as much as 8 GW was for solar-wind hybrid.