Tamil Nadu has now reached Number One position in solar power capacity addition.

India’s total installed solar capacity has grown by over 80 per cent in the last 12 months to reach 8,100 MW.

“Out of the 3,600 MW capacity added during this period, 2,700 MW has come from four southern States – with Tamil Nadu alone adding over 1,200 MW on the back of a generous feed-in-tariff of ₹7.01/kWh. Tamil Nadu now ranks number one for commissioned capacity in both wind and solar,” according to Bridge to India, a global solar energy consulting firm.

The State now ranks No.1 for commissioned capacity in both wind and solar.

As of date, Tamil Nadu leads the solar capacity addition table with an installed capacity of 1,368 MW, followed by Rajasthan (1,307 MW), Gujarat (1,112 MW), Andhra Pradesh (961 MW), Telangana (923 MW) and Madhya Pradesh (756 MW).

Presently, those six States account for 80 per cent of the solar capacity added in India. The remaining 23 States including some of the largest power consuming states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, account for just 20 per cent of the installed capacity.

In the initial phase of solar sector development in India, until 2014, bulk of solar capacity addition came up in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (about 57 per cent). But, the Southern states have taken a decisive lead in the last year, driven primarily by their growing power needs.

According to estimates based on the completed tenders totalling over 14,000 MW, the present trend is likely to continue over the next two years, with the southern States accounting for 60 per cent of this pipeline.

Tamil Nadu has proposed to increase the solar power further to 5,000 MW in a phased manner in the next five years. It plans to add about 1,200 MW of solar units in this fiscal alone, according to a document of state energy department.

The State’s total renewable power capacity is close to 10,000 MW with wind accounting for about 79 per cent of it.

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