India has added a record 24.5GW of solar PV capacity in 2024, according to data from energy consultancy JMK Research.
This represents more than a twofold increase from the previous year, when solar PV capacity additions reached 10GW in 2023 and the most capacity additions ever recorded in India in a single year.
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In 2024 alone, India added more solar PV capacity than it did in 2023 and 2022 combined, as shown in the chart below.
Solar PV additions in the second half of the year are on par with the first half of 2024, when the country added 12.2GW of capacity. The temporary exemption of the Approved List of Modules and Manufacturers (ALMM) allowed for solar developers to import modules from overseas in the first quarter of 2024, which drove utility-scale installations up at the beginning of 2024.
Utility-scale was the main driver for solar PV installations in 2024, with 18.5GW added. This is a 2.8 times increase from the numbers in 2023, according to JMK Research. This in stark contrast with the numbers registered in 2023, when utility-scale additions were down year-on-year.
The northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan added the most utility-scale solar PV capacity in 2024, with 7.09GW. It was followed by Gujarat, with 4.32GW and Tamil Nadu with 1.73GW. Combined, the three states accounted for 71% of all utility-scale solar capacity added in 2024.
In the central state of Madhya Pradesh, Indian developer Tata Power Renewable Energy commissioned the country’s largest floating solar PV plant in the second half of the year. The project was built between two major reservoirs, and has an installed capacity of 126MW.
Rooftop solar also saw its capacity increase year-on-year with 4.59GW of new rooftop PV capacity in 2024, a 53% increase from 2023. The growth of rooftop solar in 2024 could be attributed to the launch of a new scheme, the “PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana”, said JMK Research.
Finally, off-grid and distributed solar saw a 197% increase between 2023 and 2024, with 1.48GW of PV additions.
As of the end of 2024, solar PV represented nearly half (47%) of all renewable energy installed in India. In total, India has installed 209.44GW of solar PV, wind and hydro capacity as of the end of 2024.
The end-of-year data from JMK Research exceeds its own predictions made last November by more than 2GW, when it forecast 22.4GW of solar PV capacity additions for 2024.
Meanwhile, in the upstream sector, the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said it will include solar cells in its ALMM legislation from June 2026.
