Solar PV capacity in Rajasthan crosses 500 MW

Rajasthan has become the second state in India, after Gujarat, to cross the 500 MW cumulative PV installed capacity mark. RRECL recently released the list of commissioned solar projects in the state. Of the 1.4 GW of solar PV capacity in the country, Rajasthan accounts for 510.25 MW. The total reaches 512.75 MW if solar thermal (CSP) is taken into account with the addtion of the 2.5 MW solar CSP plant commissioned by ACME Tele Power in mid 2011.
In comparison, the total installed capacity of solar in Gujarat stood at 824 MW as of 31 December 2012.(Source : GEDA)
The capacity addition across the various financial years (FY) beginning from FY 2010-11 is shown below.

Beginning with an installed capacity of 5 MW in late 2010-11, the solar PV capacity in the state has grown by leaps and bounds driven by various policies to reach the current 510.25 MW figure. Rajasthan has been the go-to destination for developers interested in setting up solar PV projects under the first phase of the JNNSM accounting for about 70% of the total capacity installed in the state. The capacity addition has come in three distinct “phases”

• The first phase or the early phase driven through projects added under the migration and RPSSGP scheme
• The “boom” phase begining in late 2011 to early 2013 which witnessed significant capacity additions driven mainly by the commissioning of projects under the JNNSM Phase 1
• Capacity addition from 2013 onwards is driven largely by projects coming up under the REC/Open Access mechanism

Prominence of REC Projects
As can be seen there is a growing interest to add projects under the REC mechanism. This represents a paradigm shift in the solar market in Rajasthan with many developers gaining confidence in setting up projects under the REC mechanism. Furthermore, the favourable ruling by the RRECL which stated that RPO would be enforced strictly further boosts the confidence levels on investors.  All this combined has led to about 70 MW being added to the total capacity base under the REC mechanism in 2013 alone. It is likely that this trend will continue into 2013, with additional projects coming up under the REC mechanism and further capacity additions coming up under the recently announced state solar policy.
It should be noted that all the projects under the REC mechanism have been commissioned towards the end of March 2013 and as such it is likely that the RECs generated from these projects would begin to circulate perhaps from April’s REC trading session onwards. It remains to be seen what kind of impact the availability of RECs from the Rajasthan solar plants has on the REC market since till date, there has been a significant (solar REC) supply deficit.
District-wise installation
More than half of the installed capacity is in District Jodhpur, followed by Jaisalmer and Bikaner. The details are given below.

The entire list of projects as released by RRECL can be accessed here. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
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