India : Foreseen as top 3 solar markets in next 3 years

By - CEM Team

Solar power plays a very crucial role in a country like India, which is a very large market for power in general. Power cuts are frequent even in the urbanized parts of the country, with power available in some regions for only 6 to 8 hours a day, and there are 75 million households which do not have access to power at all. This makes the demand for power in general very high, making India a lucrative destination for international solar companies yet to explore this market’s potential.

The view point with which solar energy companies approach India is very different from the Western context, where they are having to replace and insert power with solar energy. In India, they would be creating power from scratch into a market which is desperate for that power. The government has been increasing the targets for solar energy deployment year on year.

India is targeting a 33% increase in solar power generation capacity to 100 GW by 2022 which comprises 60 GW of utility scale projects and 40 GW of rooftop and other small grid-connected projects. Currently, rooftop solar power contribution is relatively less to about 10% of total solar capacity, which is why the government is likely to promote its growth by adding 4 GW and 24 GW (7.6 GW and 11 GW from central and state government schemes respectively) of rooftop and utility scale solar power generation capacity by 2019. These measures being taken are expected to push India to the top 5 global markets for solar power in 2015 from 10^th in 2014, overtaking Germany in terms of new solar generations capacity additions in 2015.

Assuming that certain issues pertaining to financing, transmission and land acquisition are eased at a similar pace, with the country developing and advancing with new governance in place; industry experts foresee India positioning itself in top 3 solar markets of the world in coming 3 years