Falling costs push solar's lead in India's electricity transition

It installed 10GW in 2017-2018.

India installed a record 10 gigawatts (GW) of solar electricity capacity in fiscal year 2017-2018, twice the rate logged in the previous year, and nearly double the country’s entire solar base. The gains put India at 22 GW of total cumulative capacity—and the trend is continuing, according to Tim Buckley, director of energy finance studies, Australasia, and  Kashish Shah, research associate from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

A number of announcements in April 2018 show momentum building. Solar technology continues to advance, with floating solar, hybrid wind-solar-battery and blended solar-thermal tariff developments now under way.

Here's more from IEEFA:

Cost deflation is likely to remain a medium-term trend as economies of scale are achieved, spurred in part by India’s development of the world’s largest solar project, the 2.2-GW Bhadla project in Rajasthan that is set to come online in 2019.

The 10 GW of solar installed in 2017/18 represents most of the 12.1 GW of new renewable capacity commissioned over the past 12 months. Renewables now account for 20% of total installed capacity in India and 7.7% of electricity generation.

While the surge in new renewable generation has increased concerns about grid constraints, the right level of ongoing investment will make those issues manageable even as renewable energy installs double to more than 20 GW annually by 2020.