| |MAY 20209for utility projects. Markets around the world are contributing significant-ly to global growth of solar panel. Elev-en countries added more than 1 GW of new capacity during 2018, up from 9 countries in 2017 and 7 countries in 2016. The figures justify the growth story of solar power. While support system of some kind is still needed for solar PV in most countries, interest in purely competitive systems is grow-ing quickly. Self-consumption remains an important driver of the market for new distributed systems in many re-gions, and corporate purchasing of solar PV is expanding exponentially. Mining, manufacturing and other in-dustries across countries are erecting solar PV plants to power their opera-tions. Record low cost of installation and operation, driven by intense com-petition and lower panel prices, are further contributing to the growth and popularity of solar power. But, Why Solar Power?The most widely used forms of ener-gy come from non-renewable sources such as coal, natural gas and petro-leum. These sources have done a lot of harm to the environment and causing widespread destruction of natural habitats. In such an alarming situa-tion, it is becoming an ever-pressing concern to find alternate sources of energy. Solar energy, a modular tech-nology, is an ultimate rescue and need of the hour. Its ability to be utilised for varied applications is further driving its growth. Solar can be used for grid connect-ed electricity and off grid power gen-eration. Grid interactive solar energy is chosen because solar energy is avail-able throughout the day which is the peak load demand time, has low run-ning cost and conversion equipments have longer life and need lesser main-tenance. The places where utility pow-er is scarce or too expensive have no choice but to opt for their own genera-tion. They generate power from small local generators using both fossil fuels and locally available renewable ener-gy technologies with or without its own storage. How's India Doing?In terms of solar capacity, India was the second largest market in Asia in 2018, which added an estimated 10.8 GW for a total of around 32.9 GW. However, India recorded fewer instal-lations relative to the previous year, for the first time since 2014. Several factors contributed to the decline in-cluding land and transmission con-straints, safeguard duty on imports and uncertainty surrounding the Goods and Services Tax. Solar PV, India's largest source of new power capacity for the second year running, first time accounted for more than half of the capacity added during the year. Most of India's newly installed capacity during 2018 was in large-scale installations.Summing It All UpTalking about solar power generation specifically in India, a combined ca-pacity of 13, 499.41 million units (MU) of solar power was generated during 2016-17, 25,871.07 MU during 2017-18, 39,268.20 MU during 2018-19 and 22,944.81 MU in 2019-20 (till Septem-ber 2019), as per data reported by the Central Electricity Authority. Further, India has a target to achieve 100 GW of installed solar PV by fiscal year 2022. Technological improvements will continue to drive the growth of solar panels, making the future of solar bright. Technological improvements will continue to drive the growth of solar panels, making the future of solar bright
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