India is set to overtake Japan as the world’s third-largest solar power market this year, a Taiwanese research firm has predicted. According to EnergyTrend, the global solar PV demand is expected to remain stable at 74 gigawatts this year while India is expected to see sustained growth. The research claims that growth in China’s solar PV demand is expected to reduce slightly as the government has a lower capacity addition target compared to the last year. Solar power in the world’s second largest market — the United States of America — may fall out of favor given the political scenario. Meanwhile, in Japan the government is expected to continue to reduce feed-in tariffs, possibly leading to a dent in investments.
India, on the other hand, is expected to contribute 14% to the global solar PV demand as the government continues to push for a very ambitious installed capacity target of 100 gigawatts by 2022. The target translates into 90 gigawatts of capacity addition over the next five years. India recently crossed the 10 gigawatt installed solar capacity mark. EnergyTrend expects the south Asian country to add another 10 gigawatts this year. The government, for its part, expects to add 20 gigawatts over the next 15 months. A total of 14 gigawatts of capacity is reportedly under construction or at the design stage. A large portion of this capacity is expected to be commissioned during the upcoming financial year, stating 1 April 2017. An additional 6 gigawatts of capacity is also scheduled to be auctioned soon.
