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India reached 7.7 GW of cumulative installed open-access solar capacity as of Dec. 31, 2022, with a record annual addition of 2.5 GW during the Jan.-Dec. period in 2022. 

India added 2.5 GW of open-access solar capacity in 2022, an increase of 92% over 1.3 GW installed in 2021. This was the highest record of annual installations, according to Mercom India’s 2022 Q4 & Annual Solar Open Access Market Report.

With this, the nation reached 7.7 GW of cumulative installed open-access solar capacity as of Dec. 31, 2022. Karnataka remained the top state with almost 36% of the cumulative open-access solar capacity. It is followed by Maharashtra, with over 12% of the total installations.

“Installations reached an all-time high in 2022 as various organizations and developers rushed to finish projects before basic customs duty (BCD) and Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) regulations were enacted. Commissioning of projects delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic also added to the total,” stated Mercom.

Karnataka added the most open-access solar capacity in 2022, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The top five states comprised 77% of total installations during the year.

Q4 2022 addition stood at 293 MW, down almost 10% year-over-year (YoY). Karnataka accounted for over 32% of the capacity addition in the quarter.

Projects in the pipeline stood at 6.6 GW as of Q4 2022.