Understanding the PV landscape in India

Mr. Mohit Anand heads the Market Intelligence team as Senior Consultant at BRIDGE TO INDIA. Together with his team, he is responsible for the INDIA SOLAR NAVIGATOR, India’s only dedicated online business intelligence tool that is designed to enable leading solar companies to take strategic decisions to succeed given the ever-changing landscape of the Indian market.

With close to 1GW of installed PV capacity, the Indian market is seen as an upcoming growth driver for the global PV industry. The quick growth, over 800MW in the past two quarters, has been driven by feed-in-tariff based policies. A majority of these projects are concentrated in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, pushed by the National Solar Mission and the Gujarat Solar Policy. This segment alone is expected to add a cumulative 3.7GW by 2016 (according to BRIDGE TO INDIA’s market model).

Growth in the market has been seen only on the generation side, and has skipped local manufacturing
Over 80% of projects so far have used internationally manufactured modules
The question is: Will the Domestic Content Requirement help Indian manufacturers pull out of the current slump?

The growth in the market, though impressive, has only been witnessed on the generation side. It has worked to the great benefit of Indian project developers, a mix of Indian and international EPC companies and a host of international module suppliers. On the other hand, Indian module suppliers seem to have missed the bandwagon of Indian PV growth. Over 80% of projects so far have used internationally manufactured modules (based on BRIDGE TO INDIA’s estimates). This is primarily due to the obsolete business models of Indian manufacturers, and the aggressive pricing of their Chinese (and some non-Chinese) counterparts. The Indian manufacturers meanwhile are sulking and are in dire need of solutions, recommendations, prophecies, or perhaps just a stronger Domestic Content Requirement.

In this time of need and crisis, PV Insider brings to us the PV Manufacturing Summit India 2012. The conference, being held on August 1st and 2nd 2012 in New Delhi, aims to answer a key question – “With this much potential and support – why isn’t India already on its way to becoming the PV manufacturing hub of the world?”

I, for my part, will be giving the opening presentation at this conference, on August 1st 2012 at 10AM. I hope to give the participants a sense of the much talked about ‘potential’ in this market. I will argue that India is a 12GW market by 2016 that will grow primarily through commercially driven market segments. I will also give an outlook on the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) and the impact this will have on sales for module suppliers. Through my presentation, participants will get a first-hand account of the size and scope of this market. This should set the tone for the two days of intense brainstorming on how the Indian manufacturing industry can succeed in the current market environment.

Register for the PV Manufacturing Summit using discount code ‘ANAND’ and receive a $100 discount on your ticket. Write to us at contact@wordpress-117315-688799.cloudwaysapps.com for more details.