NEW DELHI: The pace of India’s solar power capacity addition tumbled 81% to 205 mega watt (MW) in the April-June lockdown months from 1,090 MW installed in the preceding January-March period of the calendar year. In terms of year-on-year comparison, the figures indicate a plunge of 86% from 1,510 MW installed in the year-ago period, latest data from green energy market tracker Mercom shows.
“Solar project construction activity came to a standstill in the second quarter (calendar year) as the Coronavirus pandemic disrupted every aspect of the economy. Labour availability was one of the biggest challenges for large-scale projects. With monsoons setting in, we may have to wait until the fourth quarter for the activity to pick up,” Mercom group CEO Raj Prabhu said.
Solar installations in the first half of 2020 totalled 1.3 giga watt (GW), a 59% decrease compared to 3.2 GW of capacity added in the first half of 2019. Large-scale installations totalled 120 MW compared to 896 MW in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, large-scale installations decreased by 90%. Large-scale project installation figures in the second quarter were the lowest in seven years.
