In a bid to put the ambitious solar power capacity addition plan on a fast track, the government has reportedly asked SECI to float 4,000 MW tender in four months to February 2019.
According to Indian Express the government has asked SECI to bring 1,000 MW tenders every month from November 2018 to February 2019.
The publication notes that the proposal of adding 4,000 MW of solar capacity will not help in meeting the government’s target of 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022. Currently India has an installed solar energy capacity of 25 GW.
4,165 MW of solar capacity is expected to be commissioned in the current financial year is, while during the next financial year 2019-20 total 4,740 MW solar capacity of is expected to be commissioned.
Recently Crisil in a report published in Mint said it expected an additional 56-58GW of solar capacity addition between FY19 and FY23. Currently, India has a capacity to generate 21.65 GW of solar power. 7.3 GW is under construction, based on already allocated schemes, another 1.7 GW is expected to be tendered and allocated over FY19.
Crisil stated that a safeguard duty on solar modules from China and Malaysia, which took effect this month and will continue for two years, is expected to slow capacity addition. Rahul Prithiani, director, Crisil said India’s solar mission target for the rooftop segment of 40 GW by 2022 is the key concern. Crisil expects this figure to be not more than 8 GW by 2023 because the cost of solar power at rooftops is expected to be far higher than from the grid.
Former power Minister Piyush Goyal in 2015 said that the government has a target of having 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of 2022 and this comprise 100 GW from solar power, 60 GW from wind power, 10 GW from biomass power and 5 GW from small hydropower.