Znshine Solar, a Chinese PV module manufacturer, emerged as the top module supplier to the Indian solar market in the calendar year (CY) 2018, having supplied more than a gigawatt of modules to India by the year-end, according to Mercom’s India 2019 Solar Market Leaderboard.

The company has recently developed graphene-coating (Nanotechnology) solar modules. The graphene coating has a self-cleaning property that is advantageous for certain areas in India that are prone to dust storms. Znshine won a 300 MW solar PV module supply agreement with domestic renewable energy developer ACME Cleantech Solutions in 2018.

The top 10 module suppliers accounted for just under 60% of the total shipments for Indian solar projects in 2018.

The imposition of safeguard duty on module imports from China, Malaysia, and Taiwan has helped domestic Indian solar panel manufacturers, according to Mercom India Research data. Three Indian manufacturers appeared amongst the top supplier’s list. This trend is likely to continue at least into the second half of the year. Domestic manufacturers may lose some market share after the safeguard duty drops to 20% from 25% at the end of July. However, Chinese module prices are expected to hold steady in the near-term.

According to Q1 2019 India Solar Market Update, Chinese module average selling prices (ASP) increased by approximately 2.2%, and domestic Indian module ASPs declined by about 3.5% in Q1 2019.

Domestic manufacturers Vikram, Waaree, and Adani, were among the top 10 module suppliers.

JA Solar was among the top suppliers, both in cumulative modules supplied as well as in 2018. As of December 2018, the company had shipped over 2.6 GW of solar modules to the Indian market.

Other major Chinese module suppliers in 2018 included GCL Poly, Risen Energy, LONGi Solar, Canadian Solar, and Renesola.

Larger Indian domestic manufacturers are faring better these days as they are able to reduce prices to capture business while smaller manufacturers are still struggling. However, some of the Indian manufacturers are following the Chinese strategy of aggressive pricing to capture market share, which has cut their margins.

The Chinese supply overall globally is shifting towards mono PERC, while domestic suppliers are still primarily focused on polycrystalline. Soon, polycrystalline supply from China may start drying up as the whole world shifts towards higher efficiency products. Indian manufacturers will need to get ahead of the curve or are likely to be left behind.

Mercom’s India 2019 Solar Market Leaderboard report gives a detailed breakdown of the solar supply chain, their growth rates, and shipments.

A complete list of solar module suppliers by name and their market share in India is available:

Mercom India’s Solar Market Share Tracker.