A utility-scale solar farm can cost roughly $500,000 to more than $1.5 million per MW in 2026, depending on the country, land, module technology, grid connection, labor, project scale and financing. The latest comparable global benchmark from IRENA puts utility-scale solar PV installed cost at approximately $691,000 per MW in 2024, after a long period of declining equipment costs.
India can be considerably cheaper than many developed markets, but there is no single cost applicable to every project. In September 2026, the Central Transmission Utility of India (CTUIL) published an advisory covering benchmark project cost and land requirements for renewable-energy projects.
CTUIL’s report on benchmark project cost indicates that the benchmark used for solar projects is around ₹3.5 crore per MW, implying approximately ₹350 crore for 100 MW, ₹1,750 crore for 500 MW and ₹3,500 crore for 1 GW. These numbers are useful planning and regulatory benchmarks — not guaranteed turnkey EPC quotations.
Real projects can cost substantially more. SJVN’s 1 GW Bikaner Solar Power Project, for example, involved investment of approximately ₹5,492 crore, or roughly ₹5.49 crore per MW.
How Much Does a Solar Farm Cost Per MW?
Solar farm cost per MW varies considerably across markets.
IRENA’s detailed 2024 dataset put the global weighted-average installed cost of utility-scale solar PV at approximately $691/kW, or $691,000/MW. Global solar PV installed costs declined significantly in 2024, continuing the industry’s long-term cost reduction.
For developers, however, the cost of modules is only one component.
A utility-scale solar farm requires modules, inverters, fixed structures or trackers, transformers, DC and AC cabling, switchgear, protection equipment, SCADA, civil works, roads, drainage, fencing, engineering, construction and commissioning.
Depending on project scope, developers may also need to pay for land, substations, transmission lines, grid bays, environmental studies, development expenses, insurance and financing.
This explains why solar panel cost per MW and complete solar farm cost per MW are very different figures.
India Solar Farm Cost Per MW in 2026
India’s 2026 market is particularly interesting because falling long-term technology costs are colliding with domestic manufacturing and supply-chain constraints.
CTUIL’s ₹3.5 crore-per-MW benchmark translates into:
| Solar project size | Benchmark project cost |
| 1 MW | ₹3.5 crore |
| 10 MW | ₹35 crore |
| 50 MW | ₹175 crore |
| 100 MW | ₹350 crore |
| 500 MW | ₹1,750 crore |
| 1 GW | ₹3,500 crore |
The figures should not be interpreted as standard EPC prices. Project cost changes according to equipment specifications, location, land, transmission, DC-to-AC configuration, domestic-content requirements and financing.
India is also experiencing near-term equipment-price pressure.
According to Wood Mackenzie’s assessment of India’s solar market, the country installed 34 GW DC in the first half of 2026, up 38 percent from H1 2025, and installations are expected to exceed 50 GW DC for the full year, compared with the previous 49 GW DC record in 2025.
But Wood Mackenzie expects utility-scale solar system prices to rise 20 percent by Q4 2026 as domestic solar-cell constraints associated with ALMM-II tighten supply. It expects cell production of around 29 GW in 2027 against average annual module demand of approximately 50 GW.
This demonstrates an important point: lower global module prices do not automatically mean lower completed solar project costs in every market.
Real-World Example: Bikaner Solar Project Cost ₹5.49 Crore Per MW
One of the best benchmarks for understanding actual Indian project economics is SJVN’s 1 GW Bikaner Solar Power Project in Rajasthan.
The project required approximately ₹5,492 crore of investment and occupies nearly 5,000 acres. It is expected to produce about 2,454.84 million units in its first year and roughly 56,482 million units over 25 years.
The investment works out to roughly:
₹5,492 crore ÷ 1,000 MW = ₹5.49 crore per MW
That is significantly above CTUIL’s ₹3.5 crore-per-MW benchmark.
The difference illustrates why developers should distinguish between a regulatory benchmark and the actual investment required for a specific project.
SJVN’s operational information also provides another useful commercial benchmark: the Bikaner project has a maximum usage charge of ₹2.57 per unit, while SJVN’s 70 MW Dhubri solar project in Assam has a tariff of ₹3.92/unit.
What Does a 100 MW Solar Farm Cost?
Using the CTUIL benchmark, a 100 MW solar farm would cost approximately ₹350 crore.
But real-world costs can move above that figure.
For comparison, SJVN’s 100 MW Nawa Solar Power Project in Rajasthan was announced with an estimated investment of ₹415 crore, equivalent to ₹4.15 crore/MW. The project was designed to generate approximately 254.51 million units in its first year, with electricity supplied at ₹2.62/unit.
SJVN’s 100 MW Raghanesda solar project provides another example. Its March 2026 investor presentation reported capital cost of approximately ₹647.8 crore, design energy of 252 million units and tariff of ₹2.64/unit.
These examples demonstrate why simply saying that a 100 MW solar project costs ₹350 crore can be misleading.
₹350 crore is a useful benchmark; it is not a universal project budget.
Solar Farm Land Requirement Per MW
Land is another important cost variable.
CTUIL’s current benchmark uses approximately three acres per MW, which would translate into:
100 MW: about 300 acres
500 MW: about 1,500 acres
1 GW: about 3,000 acres
Actual requirements can be higher depending on terrain, module efficiency, tracker design, row spacing, drainage, roads and setbacks.
The Bikaner project demonstrates the difference. Its 1 GW capacity occupies nearly 5,000 acres, or approximately five acres per MW.
Land price can then substantially alter CAPEX.
If land costs ₹10 lakh per acre, three acres represent ₹30 lakh per MW. At ₹25 lakh per acre, land expenditure reaches ₹75 lakh/MW. At ₹50 lakh per acre, it becomes ₹1.5 crore/MW.
These are illustrative calculations rather than national land-price benchmarks.
Grid Connection Can Change Solar Project Economics
Grid connection is one of the easiest solar development costs to underestimate.
A project near an available high-voltage substation may need relatively modest additional infrastructure. A remote development could require transmission lines, pooling substations, transformers, protection systems and new grid bays.
Consider a simplified example.
If ₹100 crore of evacuation infrastructure serves a 100 MW project, the burden equals ₹1 crore/MW. If similar shared infrastructure serves 500 MW, it falls to ₹20 lakh/MW.
This is one reason large solar parks can achieve attractive economics: transmission, roads, substations and other common infrastructure can be shared across multiple projects.
Grid availability also affects revenue. A completed solar farm waiting for evacuation capacity may incur financing and fixed operating costs without generating its expected cash flow.
Why Larger Solar Farms Can Cost Less Per MW
Utility-scale solar benefits from significant economies of scale.
Large developers can negotiate better prices for modules, inverters, transformers, structures and EPC services. Engineering designs can be repeated across multiple blocks, while substations, control systems, roads and O&M resources can be shared.
Even tiny per-watt savings become substantial at gigawatt scale.
A $0.01/W saving across 1 GW equals $10 million, while $0.02/W represents $20 million.
But bigger is not automatically cheaper. Gigawatt projects may require extensive land aggregation, additional transmission, complex environmental approvals and longer construction schedules.
The optimal project therefore balances scale against site and infrastructure complexity.
CAPEX Per MW vs Solar LCOE
Solar CAPEX and levelized cost of electricity measure different things.
CAPEX per MW measures the upfront investment required to construct generation capacity.
LCOE estimates the lifetime cost of generating electricity after considering capital investment, operating expenses, generation and other assumptions.
IRENA’s Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2025 puts the global weighted-average utility-scale solar PV LCOE at approximately $44/MWh in 2025, unchanged from 2024. More than 90 percent of utility-scale renewable projects commissioned during 2025 produced electricity more cheaply than the cheapest new fossil-fuel alternative available in their respective markets.
A higher-CAPEX solar farm can therefore potentially produce cheaper electricity over its lifetime if it delivers substantially higher generation.
Trackers, bifacial modules, higher-efficiency cells and better site selection may increase upfront investment while improving lifetime energy yield.
Financing Is Becoming as Important as Equipment Cost
Solar projects require most of their investment before meaningful electricity revenue begins.
Interest rates, debt-equity ratio, loan tenor, construction time, PPA quality and offtaker creditworthiness can therefore materially affect lifetime project economics.
A solar farm with cheaper modules but expensive financing may ultimately produce more expensive electricity than a higher-CAPEX project financed at a lower cost of capital.
Construction delays are especially damaging because interest continues accumulating while the project waits to generate contracted revenue.
This is why investors increasingly assess project IRR, equity IRR, debt-service coverage ratio, LCOE and lifetime free cash flow, rather than relying on a single ₹/MW construction figure.
What Will Drive Solar Farm Costs After 2026?
The next phase of solar economics will increasingly depend on the entire power system rather than panel prices alone.
IRENA’s 2024 analysis showed global utility-scale solar installed costs at $691/kW and battery-storage costs at about $192/kWh, with battery costs down 93 percent from 2010.
Higher-efficiency modules can reduce land requirements. Trackers can increase generation. Better inverters can reduce losses. Automation can lower operating costs, while storage can shift solar electricity from low-value daytime periods into higher-value evening demand.
Grid availability will become equally important as solar penetration rises.
Developers are therefore moving from asking “What is the cheapest solar panel?” toward a much more important question: “What combination of generation, grid, storage and financing produces the lowest risk-adjusted lifetime electricity cost?”
How Much Does a Solar Farm Cost Per MW in 2026? Final Answer
A practical global planning range for a utility-scale solar farm in 2026 is approximately $500,000 to more than $1.5 million per MW, depending on market and project scope. IRENA’s latest detailed installed-cost benchmark is $691,000/MW globally for projects commissioned in 2024.
In India, CTUIL’s current benchmark of approximately ₹3.5 crore/MW implies around ₹350 crore for 100 MW, ₹1,750 crore for 500 MW and ₹3,500 crore for 1 GW.
Actual investments can be considerably higher. SJVN’s 1 GW Bikaner project cost approximately ₹5,492 crore, while its 100 MW Nawa project was announced at approximately ₹415 crore.
India also faces a near-term cost challenge: Wood Mackenzie expects utility-scale solar system prices to rise 20 percent by Q4 2026 because domestic solar-cell supply is struggling to keep pace with demand under ALMM-II.
For developers and investors, solar farm cost per MW is therefore only the starting point. The better investment metric combines CAPEX, land, grid connection, financing, capacity factor, degradation, PPA tariff, storage and lifetime electricity generation.
Ultimately, the winning solar project is not necessarily the one with the cheapest panels or even the lowest upfront ₹/MW figure. It is the project that converts invested capital into the greatest amount of reliable, saleable electricity at the lowest risk-adjusted lifetime cost.
SHAFANA FAZAL
