Gujarat took early lead in harnessing solar energy in India and came out with a dedicated solar power policy in 2009. There were not more than 25 firms operating before 2007 when seeds for the state’s solar story were sown, say experts and industry players.
In solar rooftop alone, there were only 14 players in fray when Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) came up with a tender for residential solar rooftop in 2016-17 and the number rose to around 100 by fiscal 2018.
However when Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd’s (PGVCL) recent tender for empanelment of agencies for 600MW solar rooftop projects in Gujarat it saw a participation from 518 entities. The state-run distribution company shortlisted 486 of them.
Around 400 of these selected companies are based in Gujarat and 50% of them have been incorporated in the last 3-4 years.
While majority of the players are into solar rooftops, the state has also seen emergence of companies that manufacture solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, modules, distributed solar systems as well as develop solar power plant and offer engineering, operation and maintenance services.
The solar industry-rooftop installations and module manufacturing turnover in Gujarat has grown to around Rs 7,000 crore.
Gujarat is aiming to generate 1,600MW of power through solar rooftop projects by 2022 and plans to cover 2 lakh households this year and 8 lakh by 2022 under its solar rooftop policy.
Reference- Times Of India