Solar rooftop installation at record 1,538MW in year to Sept: report
India witnessed record installation of 1,538MW of solar rooftop in the year ended September 30, taking the total capacity in the category to 3,399MW, according to a report.
“There was record installation of 1,538MW (rooftop solar) in last 12 months (up 75% year-on-year) ended September 2018. Total rooftop solar capacity reached 3,399MW on September 30, 2018,” said the report by consulting firm Bridge to India.
It said rooftop solar capacity is expected to touch 15.3GW by March 2022 in a status quo scenario. This is about 38% of the government’s 40GW target. According to the report, commercial and industrial installation consumer segment dominates the market with 70% share, while residential segment continues to lag with just 9%. It also stated that OPEX model where third party developers own and develop projects on customer sites, is still growing faster than rest of the market and added 559MW capacity in the last 12 months (35% of the market share). The study also highlighted that Maharashtra (473MW), Tamil Nadu (312MW), Karnataka (272MW), Rajasthan (270MW) and Uttar Pradesh (223MW) are the top five states
NEWDELHI: ROOFTOP SOLAR CAPACITY IS EXPECTED TO TOUCH 15.3GW BY MARCH 2022 IN A STATUS QUO SCENARIO
accounting for 54% share of the total market.
It said the CAPEX market (where entire rooftop is owned by rooftop owners) is even getting more fragmented with top 10 players having a share of only 18% (21% last year). The top 3 players include Tata Power (4.4%), Mahindra (2%) and Sunsure (2%). The study also stated that in invertor market, Chinese players are growing and command a combined share of 43%. Bridge to India MD Vinay Rustagi said: “75% growth in a year plagued by safeguard duty and GST uncertainty is absolutely fantastic. Ongoing fall in module (solar) price should continue to drive growth in the next few years.
“Rooftop solar has huge growth potential and should be given more policy support particularly when utility scale solar is increasing facing acute land and transmission connectivity challenges.”