India's open access solar capacity grows 91% to 596 MW in Jul-Sep: Report

Installation of open access solar capacity in India increased by 91 per cent to 596 megawatt (MW) during the July-September period, according to Mercom Research India.

India added 312 MW of solar open access capacity in the same period a year ago, the research firm said in a report on Thursday.

Solar power through open access is an arrangement where a power producer establishes a solar power plant to supply green energy to consumers.

In the first nine months (9M) of 2022, India added about 1.9 gigawatts (GW) of open access solar, an increase of 96 per cent from the 956 megawatts (MW) installed in January-September of 2021, the report titled 'Mercom India Solar Open Access Market Report Q3 2022' said.

According to the report, as of September 2022, the total installed solar capacity in the open access segment was over 7 GW, and the pipeline of projects under development and pre-construction phase is over 5 GW.

"The demand by corporates for solar under the open access route has been phenomenal. The growth would have been steeper if not for the supply constraints and price increase.

"The pipeline of projects to be commissioned is impressive and bigger than ever. While the demand has mostly been from large corporates," said Priya Sanjay, Managing Director at Mercom India.

Karnataka remained the top state, with a total solar open access capacity of approximately 2.7 GW, followed by Maharashtra (801 MW). The top five states accounted for 74 per cent of the country's cumulative open access solar installations.

The MD further said there is a huge untapped market of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) due to lack of awareness.

Mercom Research India is organising an industry meet for commercial and industrial consumers on December 9, 2022, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh to create awareness about solar energy adoption.