According to the latest solar market report of India for the third quarter of 2019 released by Mercom India Research, the number of solar installations in India increased by 44% in the third quarter of 2019 compared with the same period last year, to 2,170 mw, up 36% from 1,592 mw in the same period last year.
From January to September 2019, India added 5.4 gigawatts of new solar capacity, down 19% from 6.7 gigawatts in the same period last year.
In the third quarter of 2019, massive installations totaled 1,925 megawatts, compared with 1,218 megawatts in the second quarter of 2019 and 1,157 megawatts in the third quarter of 2018.India's pipeline for large-scale solar projects has increased to 22.6 gigawatts.About 37.3 gigawatts of solar power have been invited for bidding and are awaiting an auction at the end of the quarter.
Rooftop solar installations in the third quarter of 2019 were down only 16 percent from the previous quarter, to 245 megawatts from 292 megawatts in the second quarter, but down 44 percent from 435 megawatts in the same period last year.
From January to September 2019, the total installed capacity of all new power sources in India will be 13 gigawatts.Renewable energy accounted for nearly 56 percent of the total, with solar energy accounting for 41.4 percent and wind energy for 13.6 percent.Coal accounted for nearly 44.1 percent of new capacity in the first nine months of 2019.
By the end of the third quarter of 2019, India had installed 33.8 gigawatts of solar energy, according to the report.But rooftop installations still account for only 12 percent of solar installations.The country's cumulative rooftop solar installations have exceeded 4 gigawatts, only 10 percent of the target of 40 gigawatts by 2022.
Meanwhile, Mercom India, a consultancy, lowered its forecast for total new solar capacity in India in 2019 to 7.3gw, down 12% from 8.3gw in 2018.In addition, Mercom also predicted for the first time that India will achieve an annual increase of solar energy of more than 10 gigawatts by 2020, provided market conditions are stable.
Solarbe.com chief editor: xiao zhou