Solar power generation capacity to go up by 5GW in 2016: report

New Delhi: India is expected to see an additional solar power generation capacity of 5 GW this year, much higher than witnessed in 2015, according to a report.

"The Indian solar market is growing in size but the question is: is it too much too fast, as infrastructure and systems have not kept pace with auction announcements.

"For the sector to move from 2 GW to a 10 GW a year market, work still needs to be done," Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co-Founder Raj Prabhu said in a statement.

Cumulative solar installations in India crossed the 7.5 GW-mark as of May 2016, with about 2.2 GW installed so far this year, more than all of the solar installations in 2015, the clean energy consultant Mercom Capital said.

India's solar project pipeline has now surpassed 22 GW with 13 GW under construction and 9 GW in the Request for Proposal (RfP) process, it said. The government has shown a strong commitment to renewables and its push towards solar is beginning to show results.

At the end of 2015-16 fiscal, solar represented 2.5 per cent of the net installed capacity in India, up from 1.4 per cent a year ago, and was the fastest growing new energy source in the country.

Solar accounted for 17.4 per cent of all renewable energy generation last financial year compared to 10.5 per cent in 2014-15.