In the calendar year (CY) 2018, India was the third largest solar market in the world behind China and the United States. The country installed 8.3 GW including large-scale and rooftop solar capacity, taking its cumulative solar capacity to 28 GW as of 2018, according to Mercom Communications India.
Rooftop installations grew by a whopping 66% year-over-year (YoY) with cumulative installations totaling nearly 3.3 GW at the end of 2018. Rooftop solar installations for 2018 amounted to 1.7 GW.
A recently released report by Mercom Communications states that the top 10 large-scale developers accounted for 60% of the market share in 2018.
The report, titled ‘India Solar Market Leaderboard 2019,’ covers market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain in 2018.
“Much has changed in the Indian solar industry over the last year. There was some re-shuffling when it came to suppliers after the imposition of the safeguard duty while others have consolidated their positions,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group while commenting on the report findings.
Leading developers
In terms of cumulative utility-scale installations, Adani maintained its position as the biggest project developer, while ACME Solar installed the largest solar capacity in 2018. Adani was the second largest utility-scale developer in 2018.
There are approximately 80 large-scale project developers with a pipeline of 5 MW or more in India. ACME Solar had the largest project pipeline at the end of 2018 closely followed by SB Energy (a renewable energy arm of Japanese giant SoftBank’s operations in India) and Azure Power.
In rooftop solar, the top 10 developers accounted for just 30% of the installed capacity in India, reflecting the fragmented nature of the sector. Tata Power led cumulative installations, while CleanMax Solar was the largest rooftop installer in 2018.
Sterling & Wilson was the biggest EPC contractor cumulatively and in 2018.
Leading suppliers
Switzerland’s ABB continued to lead solar inverter supply in the Indian market cumulatively and in 2018. Central inverters accounted for approximately 70% of the total shipments, while string inverters accounted for the rest 30% in 2018. China’s Huawei was the top string inverter supplier.
In 2018, the top five module suppliers accounted for over 30% of the market, with China’s ZnShine as the biggest supplier. The imposition of the safeguard duty in 2018 has helped domestic module manufacturers capture a larger share of the market compared to 2017.
In solar mounting structures, there are over 60 suppliers active in the Indian market, with Pennar Industries leading the pack.
In solar trackers, over 30 suppliers are active in the Indian market. As of 2018, approximately 4 GW of trackers were sold in the market. Arctech Solar was the biggest supplier in 2018.
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