The Indian market has become very dynamic in the last year and will likely become a global top 5 solar market in 2015
Last month India crossed the 4 GW mark for cumulative installed utility-scale solar capacity
Delhi, June 10th 2015: Today BRIDGE TO INDIA, a strategic environmental consulting company and a thought leader in the Indian cleantech market, has launched its annual publication, ‘INDIA SOLAR HANDBOOK 2015’ (http://www.bridgetoindia.com/our-reports/indian-solar-handbook/) at Intersolar, Munich, the lead fair in the global solar market. This edition of the Handbook analyses the ambitious solar target of India, the growth story so far, the challenges in this sector and the factors which will likely influence the market to mature.
Highlighting the key takeaways from this edition, Tobias Engelmeier, Founder and Director BRIDGE TO INDIA said, “India will be one of the most exciting markets globally this year and the long term potential is enormous.” The 100 GW target is split between 40 GW of utility scale projects, 40 GW of rooftop and 20 GW has been earmarked for a scheme in which unemployed youth and farmers are provided a grant from the central government. Both the central and the state governments have announced a number of schemes and policies to accelerate solar project development. The central government has taken the lead with the National Solar Mission (15 GW of projects by 2019) and initiatives such as the solar parks policy and interest rate subvention scheme. Many states, including Andhra Pradesh (5 GW), Telangana (5 GW), Maharashtra (7.5 GW), Tamil Nadu (3 GW) and Karnataka (2 GW) have followed with ambitious targets of their own.
According to the BRIDGE TO INDIA study, the cumulative installed capacity for solar projects in the country now stands at over 4.1 GW. In the last three years, India has added an average capacity of 1 GW every year. This year, over 1 GW of new capacity has already been commissioned within first four months of the year alone. We might see almost 3 GW additional capacity by the end of the year. With this surge in new projects across the country, Gujarat lost its long held position for the state with the highest installed capacity to Rajasthan. Not too far behind is Madhya Pradesh, which is also expected to surpass Gujarat’s installed capacity within this year.
In the global context, India is also catching up. In 2015, around 55 GW of solar capacity will be added globally. Asian countries will likely continue to dominate the market with China, Japan and India expected to be in the top five countries. China might add over 14 GW this year and should overtake Germany in terms of cumulative installed capacity by the end of 2015. India is steadily moving up from the tenth position to fifth position globally for new capacity additions.
Engelmeier adds that, “in spite of remaining challenges, the outlook for the solar sector in India is very positive. It is driven by powerful underlying fundamentals such as the rising cost of conventional power, environmental concerns, falling cost of solar power, high solar irradiation, a high power deficit and the ability of solar to quickly bring power generation capacity online. These fundamentals coupled with several state and central government initiatives should result in India becoming a very important global market.”
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BRIDGE TO INDIA is a leading consulting and market intelligence company specializing in renewables, clean technologies and sustainability solutions. BRIDGE TO INDIA offers unique, insightful view into the sector through regular reports, newsletters and blog posts. Through two dedicated websites, we seek to provide thought leadership on how rapidly developing countries like India can make intelligent choices about their future energy infrastructure and resource use.
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