India to overtake Japan to become third-biggest solar market in 2017

India is projected to post 76% growth in capacity addition over 2016

India will become the third biggest solar market globally in 2017, says India Solar Handbook 2017 by Bridge to India, a consulting and knowledge service provider in the clean technology market.

With 8.8 gw (giga watt) of projected capacity addition — a growth of 76 per cent over 2016 — India is set to become the third-largest photovoltaic market (PV) market in 2017, which will overtake Japan, the company said in a statement.

As of March 2017, India has already installed 12.2 gw of utility scale solar power, it said.

According to the report, about 79 gw of solar capacity is expected to be added globally in 2017, with Asian countries continuing to dominate and Europe falling by the wayside.

It said India's solar capacity is expected to touch the 18.7 gw mark by the end of 2017, about 5 per cent of the global pie, growing 89 per cent over the last year.

Total new solar capacity addition in the next 5 years is expected at 56 gw, it said.

Locally, it said Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have emerged as the fastest growing states in India in terms of solar installation and in 2017, nearly 60 per cent of total new capacity addition is expected to come from southern states.