India's cumulative installed solar capacity exceeded 30 GW

According to preliminary data from Mercom's Solar Project Tracker in India, India's installed solar capacity has cumulatively reached 30 GW
.

The share of solar power generation increased from 6.
6% in March 2018 to 8.
4%
in March 2019.
Among renewables, solar accounted for about 38% of installed capacity, up 2%
from the previous quarter.

India's renewable energy capacity continues to increase, accounting for about 22.
3%
of total installed capacity at the end of the 2018-19 financial year (FY).
This is up
from 20.
3% in the previous fiscal year.
This significant growth is mainly attributed to the growth of
solar installed capacity.

As of the end of March 2019, India's total installed capacity was 358 GW, with renewables accounting for 80 GW, or 21%.

This represents a 1.
1 percent increase from the 2017-18 fiscal year, when cumulative renewable energy installations stood at 70 GW
.

As of March 2019, wind power accounted for more than 35GW of total installed capacity and nearly 10%
of the total power capacity mix.
However, new wind capacity declined in FY2018-19, adding about 1.
5GW of capacity, compared to 1.
7GW
in the previous fiscal year.
The slowdown can be attributed to challenges in various tendering processes, including removing incentives
.

Of the total installed capacity, the cumulative installed capacity of large-scale hydropower projects is 45.
3 GW, equivalent to 12.
66%
at the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year.
Large hydropower has been classified as renewable by the Ministry of Electricity to meet the Paris climate agreement's goal of generating 40% of electricity in India by 2030
.

The share of nuclear power in total installed capacity at the end of March 2019 remained unchanged, with no new nuclear capacity
added in the 2018-19 financial year.

Small hydropower projects added 107 MW of new capacity in FY2018-19, up 2.
4%
year-on-year.
The cumulative installed capacity of small hydro was 4.
6 GW, accounting for 1.
28%
of the total installed capacity at the end of March 2019.

Coal power continues to be the country's main power generation resource, with a cumulative installed capacity of 226 GW, accounting for 63.
24%
of the total installed capacity.
India still relies on coal power to meet most of its baseload requirements
.

Although India's installed solar capacity has cumulatively exceeded 30 GW, it is still a long way from India's target of 100 GW by the end of March 2022, and completing 70 GW of solar installation in the next 3 years is a difficult task
.