National Solar Mission: Installations now 40% of 2022 target

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has announced that the installed and operational solar capacity in India has crossed the 40 GW mark and will stand at 40.09 GW by the end of the month. The cumulative renewable energy (RE) capacity (installed) in India has reached 94.93 GW. According to a monthly report by the MNRE, a total of 1463.31 MW of RE capacity was added, taking the cumulative installed RE capacity to 94.43 GW as of 31 March 2021. This includes 40.09 GW of solar capacity, followed closely by 39.24 GW of wind capacity, and then 10.31 GW of bio-power and 4.79 GW of small hydro capacity. India crossed the 20 GW milestone in January 2018. The National Solar Mission’s original target was 20 GW by 2022 but was revised to 100 GW by 2022. In May 2019, India marked the 30 GW milestone. Installations slowed down in 2020 due to the pandemic. Construction activity for ongoing projects came to a halt, and the solar supply chain took a beating. Prior to the pandemic and the subsequent nationwide lockdown on 23 March 2020, solar installations stood at about 37 GW. The ministry has stated that projects of 49.7 GW capacity are at various stages of implementation, while projects of 25.91 GW capacity are under various stages of bidding. Image Source Also read: India's solar capacity addition at five-year lowest