India: New photovoltaic installations in 2024 more than double year-on-year growth

According to data from the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), in terms of communication, India's newly installed photovoltaic capacity in 2024 has more than doubled year-on-year, setting a new record of 24.5GW, dominating India's renewable energy growth and accounting for 47% of the cumulative total installed renewable energy capacity. As of March 2024, the theoretical exploitable potential of photovoltaics in India is estimated to be 748.98 GW. During the same period, the newly installed wind power capacity increased by 3.4GW, a year-on-year growth of 21%.

Among the newly added 24.5GW photovoltaic installed capacity in 2024, utility scale projects contributed 18.5GW, which is about 2.8 times that of the same period last year. Among them, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu together account for 71%.

The household photovoltaic market also experienced strong growth, with a year-on-year increase of 53% to 4.59 GW, mainly driven by the Indian government's flagship program "The World's Largest Household Photovoltaic Program". MNRE revealed that the plan has facilitated the installation of 700000 household photovoltaics within 10 months after its launch in 2024. The plan aims to achieve 30GW of installed capacity by March 2025, with over 1 million households installed, and reach a target of 10 million households by 2027.

The off grid photovoltaic field has also performed well, with an additional installed capacity of 1.48GW in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 182%, reflecting the growing demand for photovoltaics in rural India.

Another important government program, PM-KUSUM, provides financial support for photovoltaic irrigation systems in rural agricultural areas. MNRE stated that the program contributed approximately 11.34GW of photovoltaic installed capacity between January and November 2024.

As of the end of 2024 to January 2025, India's cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity has reached 97.86 GW, an increase of 10.8 times compared to 9.01 GW in March 2016. This includes 75.19GW of ground power stations, 15.67GW of grid connected household photovoltaics, 4.23GW of off grid photovoltaics, and 2.77GW of hybrid photovoltaic projects.

As of January 2025, the total installed capacity of non fossil energy in India has increased to 217.62 GW, with the national goal of raising it to 500 GW by 2030.