Large-scale solar projects
From just over 11 megawatt of solar in 2010, India had installed 35.1 gigawatt of solar power as of June 2020, scaling up its solar capacity by over 3,000 times in less than a decade. Large-scale solar projects, which make up the preponderant share of 32.3 GW in India’s overall solar capacity, are exempted from environmental processes and public hearings. The biggest projects are fast-tracked and incentivised through various schemes. In solar parks, the state government acquires the land, sets up ancillary infrastructure and invites multiple private players to bid and set up for ‘plug and play’ installations, as in the Pavagada solar park in Karnataka. Then there are the standalone projects, such as Kamuthi in Tamil Nadu, where a single private firm wins the bid to build and operate. In contrast, rooftop solar installations, typically of smaller-scale, total up to 2,817 MW. While development experts hail the rapid growth of India’s solar sector, a murmur of disagreement is emergin...