Local Search Engine Identifies Strong Demand For Solar In India As Power Cuts Hurt

Demand for solar panels and geysers have been on a rise across the country with cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune generating maximum demand for solar panels and geysers, reports the latest Just Dial Consumer Insights. Just Dial Limited provides local search related services to users in India through multiple platforms.

 

The insight comes from the volume of search for solar equipment tracked by the firm Just Dial, its local search engine for India. A rise of 14% (YOY) was tracked during April’22, a month when power cuts returned with a vengeance in many parts of the country due to a demand supply mismatch. During the same period, demand in Tier-I cities rose by 13% and Tier-II by 11%. The two most searched solar equipment were solar panels and geysers while solar lights, inverters, and fence made the top-5 most searched solar products in the country. Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune were the top-3 cities in the country in terms of the adoption of solar energy.

 

Commenting on the search trends, Prasun Kumar, CMO, Just Dial, said: “In line with the rising demand for renewable sources of energy in the country, searches on Just Dial reflected it with Solar panels remained the most sought-after solar equipment as households across the country are making a gradual switch towards green energy source.”

 

Delhi, Pune, and Mumbai were the top-3 Tier-I cities with maximum demand for solar panels. Delhi saw a 39% jump in demand but the maximum rise in searches happened in Kolkata (45%) among Tier-I cities. Lucknow, Jaipur, Surat, Vadodara, and Chandigarh saw the maximum rise among Tier-II cities that saw a 19% rise in demand for solar panels. 

 

Bengaluru contributed to 45% of the demand from Tier-I cities for solar geyser. The cities of Pune and Hyderabad were second and third respectively. Hyderabad saw the maximum rise in demand, 43% during April’22. Among Tier-II towns and cities, Nashik, Mysore, Kolhapur, Coimbatore, and Belgaum were the top-5 that saw maximum demand. 

 

Bengaluru also topped the demand for solar lights as well followed by Delhi and Mumbai in the second and the third place among Tier-I cities as demand grew by 11% during April’22. Demand for solar lights in Tier-II towns and cities saw a rise of 10% with maximum traction from Patna, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, and Mysore.

 

Demand for solar inverters remained maximum in Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad as demand in Tier-I cities jumped by 17%. However, it was Bengaluru that saw a 44% rise in demand for solar inverters. Tier-II towns also saw a 35% rise in demand with maximum searches generated from the cities of Jaipur, Lucknow, and Chandigarh.

For solar fences, Hyderabad topped the demand among Tier-I cities followed by Ahmedabad and Bengaluru. Rajkot, Nagpur, Mysore, Lucknow, and Jaipur were the top-5 Tier-II cities with maximum demand.

Even as solar equipment demand remains high, actual on-grid conversions for solar power plants, especially for rooftop solar, remain way below potential in India, thanks to issues at discom end, where subsidy driven connections are a veritable obstacle course to cross for buyers.