The total installed capacity of solar power in India has crossed the milestone of 5,000 MW.
The cumulative installed capacity has reached to 5,130 MW with an installed capacity of 1385 MW in the current FY.
Rajasthan tops with installed capacity of 1264 MW, followed by Gujarat (1024MW), Madhya Pradesh (679 MW), Tamil Nadu (419 MW), Maharashtra (379 MW) and Andhra Pradesh (357 MW).
The Government has set the ambitious target of generating 100 GW of solar power by 2021-22 under the National Solar Mission.
It is envisaged to generate 60 GW of ground-mounted grid-connected solar power and 40 GW through the roof-top grid interactive solar power to fulfil the requirement of 100 GW of solar power.
The Centre has also fixed year-wise targets to monitor solar power generation in the country.
The target for the current year is 2,000 MW and the next year 12,000 MW. The Renewable Energy Ministry is putting all efforts through various schemes of Central and State Governments to achieve the targets.
It has been planned that around 18,000 MW tender should be out by March 31, 2016.
To achieve these objectives, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has initiated several projects including a Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects; Scheme for Development of Solar PV Power Plants on Canal Banks/ Canal Tops; Scheme for setting up 300 MW of grid connected Solar PV Power Projects by defence establishments under the Ministry of Defence and Para Military Forces with viability Gap Funding; scheme of setting up 1000 MW of Grid-Connected Solar PV Power Projects by CPSUs with Viability Gap Funding; and scheme for setting up 15000 MW of grid connected to achieve this target.
Solar PV Power Projects by NTPC/NVVN and setting up of 2000 MW Grid connected solar power with Viability Gap Funding through Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) are part of the Government move. This apart, an ambitious scheme has been launched by the Ministry for roof-top solar installation. Various state governments are also coming up with solar power projects under their own policies.