In 2018, India was again the third largest solar market behind China and the United States with 8.3 GW of solar PV capacity installed in the year. Mercom’s newly released India Solar Market Leaderboard 2019 report reveals the market leaders that emerged during a challenging year for the solar industry. The report covers market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain in 2018.

According to the report, the top 10 solar PV project developers in the country accounted for over 60% of all large-scale project installations in the 2018 calendar year. There were over 300 utility-scale project developers in the country with projects of at least 5 MW or more in operation. Currently, there are around 80 large-scale project developers with a pipeline of 5 MW or more in India.

India Solar Market Leaderboard 2019

“Much has changed in the Indian solar industry over the last year. There was some re-shuffling when it came to suppliers after the imposition of the safeguard duty while others have consolidated their positions,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

Utility-scale segment

ACME Solar was the top developer in terms of utility-scale solar installations in the 2018 calendar year. It also had the largest project pipeline at the end of 2018, closely followed by SB Energy (SoftBank) and Azure Power.

Adani maintained its position as the largest project developer in terms of total cumulative installations through the end of 2018. It was also the second largest utility-scale solar installer in 2018.

Leaders in rooftop solar

Rooftop installations grew by a whopping 66% year-over-year (YoY) with cumulative installations totaling nearly 3.3 GW at the end of 2018. Rooftop solar installations for 2018 amounted to 1,655 MW. The rooftop market in India continues to be very fragmented.

Mercom’s market report notes that the top 10 rooftop solar installers covered just 30% of installed capacity in India in 2018. Other rooftop developers constituted 70% of the market.

CleanMax Solar emerged as the top rooftop solar installer in 2018 followed by Fourth Partner Energy, whereas Tata Power still has the largest cumulative installations in the solar rooftop segment.

EPC segment leaders 

Sterling and Wilson emerged as the top EPC company cumulatively as well as in 2018.

Top inverter suppliers

ABB continues to be the top solar inverter supplier in the Indian market and led shipments in 2018. Central inverters accounted for approximately 72% of total shipments. Chinese central inverter companies are quickly gaining market share in India.

In 2018, the remaining 28% of solar inverters supplied were string inverters. The top string inverter supplier was Huawei followed by other Chinese string inverter companies.

Top module suppliers

The report also highlights that the top five module suppliers comprised over 30% of the market in 2018. ZnShine was the top solar module supplier in 2018. Some Indian manufacturers made significant gains following the safeguard duty announcement last year.

Top mounting structure company

Pennar Industries emerged as the top solar mounting company in 2018. There are over 60 suppliers of solar mounting structures active in the Indian market. 

Top tracker supplier

Over 30 companies supplied 4 GW of trackers to the Indian solar market in 2018 with Artech Solar emerging as the top supplier.

Get the complete list of market leaders with installation and supply numbers in the full report