Mercom India Research has released a data report, India Solar Market Leaderboard 2020, which reveals the solar industry market leaders that emerged during the calendar year (CY) 2019.

The report features the industry’s leaders as well as their market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain.

The Indian solar market expanded during the year as participation increased, and new leaders emerged while existing players fought to retain their top spots amid rising competition.

India installed 7.3 GW of solar capacity in 2019 and secured its spot as the world’s third-largest solar market in the world. The country boasts of cumulative solar installations of about 35.7 GW at the end of December 2019.

“The solar market leaders have changed in almost every category compared to 2018. With a tough year ahead, we expect strong, resilient, and innovative companies to continue to do well,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

Full list of market share leaders available here

Utility-scale Solar

Large-scale solar installations in 2019 accounted for 85% of the additions at 6.2 GW. Also, solar accounted for 41% of new power capacity additions in 2019 behind coal, which accounted for 44%. As the industry is expanding, so is the number of developers backed by domestic and international investors who see India as a promising market.

The top ten large-scale developers held ~70% of the market share in 2019, according to the report. There were over 300 utility-scale project developers with projects of 5 MW or larger capacity in operation in India.

ReNew Power was the top utility-scale developer in CY 2019. Adani was the largest project developer in terms of cumulative solar installations as of December 2019.

Meanwhile, Azure Power had the largest project pipeline as of December 2019, and there were around 29 large-scale solar developers with a project pipeline of 100 MW or more in India.

EPC

Companies offering Engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) services saw a lot of projects moved to 2020 due to delays caused by general elections, land, and evacuation issues, among others. Mahindra Susten was the top EPC player for utility-scale solar installations during the year.

Rooftop Solar

At the end of 2019, cumulative rooftop solar installations in India reached 4,365 MW. A total of 1,104 MW of rooftop solar projects were installed in 2019, a steep decline of 33% compared to 2018. Cumulative rooftop installations still only make up 10.9% of the country’s rooftop solar target of 40 GW by 2022.

In 2019, the top ten rooftop solar installers represented 43% of the market share.

Tata Power Solar held the top spot in terms of cumulative solar rooftop installations and as well for the year 2019.

Solar Inverter Suppliers

Huawei was the leading solar inverter supplier in the country during 2019 followed by Sungrow.

Growatt, Solis, Goodwe, and Delta Power Solutions were the other top string inverter suppliers.

Inverter suppliers breathed a sigh of relief as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) extended the deadline for the self-certification of solar inverters by six months from December 31, 2019, to June 30, 2020. The government had mandated that laboratories must conduct the tests for compulsory registration with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for the implementation of the quality order.

Solar Module Suppliers

In CY 2019, the top ten module suppliers acquired 62% of the market share. Waaree Energies and Adani were the leading module suppliers in terms of shipments in the calendar year 2019.

Supported by the safeguard duty and DCR tenders, Indian manufacturers are now competing strongly with Chinese suppliers.

The implementation of the approved list of manufacturers and models (ALMM) also saw an extension of the deadline by six months from March 31, 2020, to September 30, 2020. The ALMM was mandated by the MNRE for manufacturers of solar modules to enlist if their modules are to be utilized in government-owned projects and those set up for the sale of electricity to the government.

Solar Trackers and Mounting Structures

In 2019, Scorpius Trackers was the top supplier of solar trackers.

Ganges Internationale was the top supplier of solar mounting structures during the year, followed by Purshotam Profiles and Strolar.

Recently, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recommended the imposition of anti-dumping duty on aluminum and zinc coated flat products from China PR, Vietnam, and Korea RP to protect the domestic industry. In solar projects, the panels are placed on the module mounting structures, which are made up of aluminum and zinc-coated flat products.

Open Access Solar

Rays Power Experts and CleanMax Solar were the top open access developers as of December 2019.

The open access solar market in India has been offering parallel opportunities for stakeholders, including large corporates, solar project developers, investors, and power distribution companies, to participate in the solar growth story. There is a growing demand for serious players to develop open access projects and sell power to multinational companies (MNCs) that are choosing group captive solar to go green.

The solar sector is currently reeling with issues like delays in DISCOMs’ payment to developers, PPA renegotiations, power curtailment, difficulty in forecasting and scheduling power, access to financing, reimbursement delays, and the looming fear of the coronavirus derailing the supply schedules.

Solar Robotic Cleaning

Ecoppia was the top supplier of robotic cleaning systems in India as of December 2019.

Robotic cleaning of solar panels is gaining traction in India amid water scarcity. Along with this, cleaning robots eliminate the need for extensive manual labor and increases electricity generation. Most of the major developers have deployed the robotic cleaning systems installed on large solar parks such as REWA, Bhadla, Pavagada. The MNRE has also recommended the use of robotic cleaning technology, which uses less water for cleaning solar projects. 

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