Tata Power Solar, Fourth Partner Energy, and Prozeal Infra emerged as the top solar rooftop installers in India in the calendar year (CY) 2020, according to Mercom’s India Solar Market Leaderboard 2021.

Together these three installers accounted for almost 40% of the total rooftop installations in 2020.

The top ten installers contributed to 66% of the total rooftop installations in 2020, while other small players contributed to the remaining 34%. However, rooftop solar capacity additions slowed down to just 719 MW during CY 2020, a decline of 35% compared to 2019, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The segment also grapples with the government’s restrictive policy on net metering. The Ministry of Power has issued a draft amendment to Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, which allows net metering for rooftop solar systems of loads up to 500 kW or up to the sanctioned load, whichever is lower and gross metering after. Earlier the cap was at 1 MW.

Installations slowed down in 2020 due to the pandemic. Construction activity for ongoing projects came to a halt, and the solar supply chain took a beating.

In 2019, Tata Power Solar, Fourth Partner Energy, and Azure Power were the top solar rooftop installers in India. Together, these three installers accounted for nearly 22% of total rooftop installations in 2019.

Gujarat has been leading rooftop solar drive contributing to around 26% of the country’s installations, followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Gujarat’s dominance in the rooftop segment can be attributed to highly rated DISCOMs and favorable policies.

Mercom’s Q4 2020 and Annual India Solar Market Update showed that the residential segment has been witnessing slow growth but has enormous potential. There is a strong surge towards rooftop installations from the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector, which saw 33% installations in the last quarter of 2020.

With the levelized cost of energy of rooftop solar on an average 50-60% lower than retail electricity tariffs for C&I consumers in many states, it makes for a great case for C&I consumers to install rooftop solar and save on their energy bills.