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With the addition of close to 12 GW to the grid, the solar power segment in the country has touched its highest ever new capacity addition during the calendar year 2021.
The total new capacity added by the solar power sector stood at about 11.88 GW (includes utility-scale, rooftop and off-grid) for January-December 2021 period, according to official data.
The previous highest capacity addition was in 2017 when the solar power segment added 9.6 GW to the grid.
“In 2021, total corporate funding including venture capital, private equity, debt financing and public market financing in the global solar power sector saw a whopping 81 per cent increase at $27.8 billion, highest in the past 10 years,” according to clean energy consulting firm Mercom Capital Group.
The solar power sector attracted about $4.5 billion worth of global venture capital and private equity funding in 2021. This is the highest amount of VC funding for the solar sector since 2010.
“2021 was the best year for solar corporate funding as well as mergers and acquisitions since 2010. Financing activity bounced back strongly following a COVID-19-affected 2020. There was more money and more demand than supply of attractive companies and assets as organisations and funds look to fulfil their ESG and clean energy mandates,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.
For the December quarter, the renewable sector added about 3350 MW of new capacity when compared to 1924 MW in December 2020 quarter and 3319 MW of capacity in the third quarter of FY20.
During the calendar year 2021, the Indian renewable energy sector added 13.73 GW of new capacity (including solar, wind, small hydro and biopower). The solar power sector is expected to remain the major driver of new capacity addition in the renewable sector.
As of December, the total grid-connected renewable power capacity in India stood at 104.88 GW, of which the solar power segment accounted for 49.36 GW. The wind segment had a cumulative installed capacity of 40.01 GW. Small hydro and biopower had an installed capacity of 4.84 GW and 10.61 GW (including energy waste) respectively.
The RE sector has witnessed large scale investments over the past few years led by strong policy push from the Government. As a result, the share of renewables in the overall installed power capacity increased to about 27 per cent as of December. The center has now committed a 500 GW addition in non-fossil capacity by 2030 to make the share of renewable energy to 50%.
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