The Indian solar market installed 8,263 MW in 2018, down 15.5 percent compared to 9,782 MW in 2017 as the safeguard duty, GST issues, and land and transmission issues took a toll on the large-scale installations.
Q4 2018 installations added to 1,638 MW, up three percent quarter-over-quarter from the 1,589 MW installed during Q3 2018. Installations were down about 52 percent year-over-year (YoY) compared to 2,491 MW installed in Q4 2017.
Karnataka topped the list of states with newly added large-scale solar capacity in 2018 followed by Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. Together these five states accounted for 81 percent of large-scale installations in the year.
Rooftop solar meanwhile had an impressive year.
Rooftop installations in 2018 totaled 1,655 MW a strong 66 percent year-over-year growth. Cumulative rooftop solar installations have reached 3,260 MW and still only make up 12 percent of the total solar installations in the country.
In terms of annual growth, rooftop solar continues to be a bright spot, as commercial and industrial entities see rooftop solar as a viable way to combat higher power tariffs.
However, Financing rooftop installations could be a challenge in 2019 as Indian banks face a liquidity crunch with many banks hitting the exposure limits to the power sector.
Reference- Mercom India, Clean Technica