gst

India is expected to become a “key pillar” for solar demand growth, while growth from leading nations including China, Japan and possibly the US declines, according to the latest update from consultancy firm Bridge to India.

Even though monkeys were allegedly wreaking havoc on India’s solar rooftop systems last year, 2016 was remarkable for the Indian PV sector. With solar taking 1% the nation’s electricity share and India set to become the world’s third largest market in 2017 , Bloomberg New Energy Finance has proclaimed that ‘solar is king of Indian renewables’. Add the completion of the world’s largest solar plant to these accolades and you have a good indicator of the South Asian giant’s ambitions. Even India’s biggest oil, steel and mining companies are getting on board the solar rush.

Globally, the top 10 inverter suppliers accounted for around 75% of shipments in 2015. In India, the market is even more concentrated as the top 10 suppliers accounted for over 85% of shipments. Despite this, there is intense price competition and churning in supplier landscape. Bridge to India's Jasmeet Khurana investigates.

With India’s solar cell and module manufacturing capacity at about 1,200MW and 5,600MW respectively in April this year, Bridge to India's Jyoti Gulia looks at the plight of domestic manufacturers in the face of China's traditional dominance of the sector.