Tamil Nadu maintains lead in solar rooftop installations

Tamil Nadu continues to lead in installation of rooftop solar projects in the country.

The state has outperformed all its peers in rooftop solar installations. India has added 678 MW of rooftop solar capacity in 2016-17, growing at 81 per cent Y-o-Y, reaching total installed capacity of 1,396 MW as of March 2017.

With an installed capacity of 163 MW as of March this year, Tamil Nadu topped the rooftop capacity addition table, according to a report by Bridge to India, a global renewable energy consulting firm.

Industrial segment

Industrial segment remains a major driver for rooftop solar installations in the country with a share of 590 MW. In Tamil Nadu too, industrial segment contributed about 124 MW.

Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka contributed to 40 per cent of the country’s total rooftop solar capacity of 1.4 GW.

“Indian rooftop solar market is finally beginning to realise its potential. Industrial and commercial customers remain the biggest market segment. These customers can make excellent savings from cheaper solar energy and also reduce their carbon footprint,” said Vinay Rustagi, Managing Director, Bridge to India.

Public sector segment

Public sector segment is also expected to show robust growth in the coming years because of strong government push combined with 25-30 per cent capital subsidies.

However, net metering still remains a sore point for the market with Discoms and state agencies either ill-equipped or unwilling to adopt rooftop solar.

Bridge to India expects India’s rooftop solar capacity to cross the 2 GW mark in this fiscal, partly driven by several ongoing and recently completed rooftop solar tenders. The public sector segment is expected to grow at an impressive 205 per cent during this fiscal.

Companies such as Delta and SMA (including Zever) accounted for 60 per cent of the total rooftop solar inverter market share in the country in 2016-17. CleanMax, CleanTech, Azure, Amplus and RattanIndia led the solar project development business in the same period.

Improving economics of rooftop solar, government tenders and improving net-metering implementation across key states would be the biggest drivers for the segment and the total rooftop solar capacity is expected to reach of 13.2 GW by 2021.