Solar installations in India in Q2 2018 declined significantly with 1,599 MW, a 52 percent decrease compared to 3,344 MW installed in Q1 2018.
Installations were also down by 21 percent year-over-year (YoY) compared to 2,025 MW installed in Q2 2017, according to Mercom India Research’s newly released Q2 2018 India Solar Market Update.
In Q2 2018, large-scale installations totaled 1,184 MW compared to 2,954 MW in Q1 2018 and 1,800 MW in Q2 2017.
Rooftop installations accounted for 415 MW, up 6 percent compared to the 390 MW installed in the previous quarter and up 84 percent compared to 225 MW installed in Q2 2017.
In Q2 2018, large-scale solar projects accounted for 74 percent and rooftop solar accounted for the other 26 percent.
Cumulative solar installed capacity totaled 24.6 GW at the end of Q2 2018 with large-scale solar projects accounting for 90 percent and rooftop solar making up the remaining 10 percent.
The slowdown can be attributed to uncertainties around trade cases, module price fluctuations, and PPA renegotiation’s after record low bids which contributed to the tender and auction slowdown in 2017. All of this resulted in a weaker project pipeline for 2018.
Rooftop installations have been growing robustly so far but they are also expected to slow down until module prices decrease after the safeguard duty impact wears off.
Reference- Mercom India, The Hindu, TOI