Bridge to India cuts rooftop solar forecast to 10.8 GW by 2021

Renewable energy consultancy firm Bridge to India today said it has lowered projections for rooftop solar capacity addition to 10.8 GW, as against 13.2 GW, by 2021.
Bridge to India, a knowledge services provider in the Indian renewable space, has released the latest edition of its info-graphic report, 'India Solar Rooftop Map'.
As per the report, India added new rooftop solar capacity of 840 MW in the 12 months ending September 2017, at an annual growth of 82 per cent and total installed capacity as of September 2017 stood at 1,861 MW.
The report also highlights that commercial and industrial consumers remain the biggest segment accounting for 63 per cent of the total capacity and 66 per cent of the new capacity added in the last 12 months. The capacity addition in this segment grew 86 per cent during this period.

Speaking on the launch of the map, Bridge to India MD Vinay Rustagi said, "Rooftop solar has been growing robustly. Debt and equity financing is also flowing more freely now but it is still abundantly clear that the 40 GW target for March 2022 is highly unrealistic.
"The government would be particularly disappointed by slow pace of capacity addition in the public-sector segment despite providing a strong mandate and 25 per cent capital subsidy. Net metering progress also remains patchy at best."

It said that CleanMax, Cleantech Solar and Amplus are the clear leaders in OPEX project development category. Delta and SMA have maintained their dominance in the inverter market, the report said adding that Tata Power Solar remains the biggest EPC contractor in rooftop solar.

Residential rooftop solar grew at a more sedate pace of 45 per cent. But the major disappointment is low uptake in the public sector, which added only 173 MW in the last 12 months against our estimate of 200 MW, it said.
It has revised estimate for expected capacity addition in 2017 to 887 MW, 28 per cent lower than our previous estimate.
"We have revised our projections for the next five years with total estimated capacity addition of 10.8 GW by 2021 (down 18 per cent over our previous estimate)," it added.
The report also said that Maharashtra has taken over Tamil Nadu to become the biggest solar rooftop state, as per the latest edition of 'India Solar Rooftop Map' by Bridge to India.