India installed 1.6 GW of rooftop solar in 2022

India's cumulative installed rooftop PV capacity will reach nearly 8.8 GW by the end of December 2022. Gujarat led the way in terms of deployment, accounting for 24% of rooftop solar installations.

India will install 1.6 GW of rooftop solar in 2022, down nearly 6% year-on-year, according to the latest market report from Mercom India.

About 42 percent of installations for the year were located in the industrial sector, the company said. The residential, commercial and government sectors accounted for 32%, 25% and 1% of the new capacity, respectively.

Cumulative installed rooftop solar capacity will reach nearly 8.8 GW by December 31, 2022, Mercom India said. Gujarat leads with 24% of cumulative solar rooftop capacity, followed by Maharashtra with 14% and Rajasthan with 9%.

"[The year] was a lost opportunity for the Indian rooftop solar market, impacted by policy challenges that constrained supply and impacted module costs," said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. Flat for the year. Strong fundamentals continue to drive installations in the commercial and industrial sectors. We expect growth to resume in 2023 as price and supply challenges ease."

The Basic Duty (BCD) and Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) mandates for rooftop solar projects have exacerbated volatility in solar module prices and supply in India.

“If project costs hadn’t skyrocketed post-BCD and installers were aware of grid-connected rooftop solar projects requiring ALMM modules, installations could have been higher,” Mercom India said.

Between October and December 2022, 483 MW of new rooftop solar capacity will be installed. About 56 percent of these are in the residential sector, while 43 percent are in the commercial and industrial sector, the research firm said.