India to become world’s third largest solar market in 2017: Report

“India still maintain strong demand for PV products, it has the potential to overtake Japan to become the world’s third largest solar market by taking at least 14% of the year’s total PV demand.”

Taiwan based market researcher firm, EnergyTrend in its new report forecasts India to become the 3rd largest solar market in the world this year. According to the research firm India will add at least 10 gigawatts to its domestic PV installations in 2017 and overtake Japan.

“While China remains the largest regional market, its domestic PV installation target for this year is slightly lower than last year’s according to the latest government announcement,” said EnergyTrend analyst Celeste Tsai. “As for the second-place U.S., the country’s current political climate is not conducive to the growth of its PV market. At the same time, Japan will continue to lower its feed-in tariff rates over the next few years. Because India still maintain strong demand for PV products, it has the potential to overtake Japan to become the world’s third largest solar market by taking at least 14% of the year’s total PV demand.”

Interestingly Power, Coal, Mines, New & Renewable Energy Minister, Piyush Goyal recently announced that India has crossed 10,000 MW of Solar power capacity. More than 3 times increase in less than 3 years.

Policy remains an influential factor in the long-term development of India’s PV market said the firm in a statement. “Currently, solar products in some areas of the country are exempted from sales taxes, but the government has yet to decide the rate of Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will be applied on them,” explained Tsai. She further added “GST, which was approved by the parliament last year, could pose as an enormous financial burden on the future construction of PV power plants in India and stifle the growth of the country’s solar market.”

Tsai also stated that irrespective of the GST rate, an installation rush is expected to take place in India during the first quarter before April, when the nation-wide sales tax is officially implemented. This wave of urgency to install PV systems will be the main demand driver for the country’s solar market for the first quarter.