India held on to its position as the third-largest solar photovoltaic (PV) market in the second quarter (Q2) of 2019. The United States was the second-largest market behind China.

According to the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), in the second quarter (Q2) of 2019, the United States witnessed solar installations of nearly 2.1 GW. This was a decline of around 7% when compared to the same quarter in 2018. However, the SEIA also announced that the U.S.  solar pipeline grew to a record 37.9 GW during this period. The U.S. has added 4.7 GW of solar in the first half of the year.

China remained ahead of U.S. and India with 6.2 GW of added solar capacity in Q2 of 2019. According to data released by China’s National Energy Administration. Last month, China’s National Energy Administration announced that China added a total of 11.4 GW in the first half of 2019.

India, on the other hand, installed a total capacity of 1.5 GW in the same time period, as per Mercom’s Q2 2019 India Solar Market Update. Both U.S. and India have seen a slowdown in solar capacity addition on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. During the first half of 2019, India added 3.3 GW of solar.

Mercom India Research forecasts that India is likely to install over 8 GW of solar capacity in the calendar year 2019. It estimates solar installations in India to reach 70 GW by the end of 2022 based on current market dynamics.

In June 2019, Mercom reported that in Q1 2019, installations in India were down by 49% year-over-year (YoY) compared to 3.4 GW that was installed in Q1 2018, according to Mercom India Research’s Q1 2019 India Solar Market Update.