rooftop solar

This week’s Intersolar India 2017 in Mumbai, which ran from Tuesday to Thursday at the Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC), highlighted both the potential and the challenges of India’s vast residential PV market. Everything from policy to unique environmental challenges and installation processes was discussed.

Milan Koev, REC Group’s Vice President Sales & Marketing APAC, speaks to pv magazine about the potential of India’s rooftop solar market.

A major milestone was surpassed in the Australian PV market last month, indicating that the rooftop solar sector is in robust health. However, not tracked in the figures underlying the record are large commercial rooftops and distributed battery storage, and reports are that here too strong growth is being achieved.

Increasing the role of solar PV in its energy mix from 6 GW to almost 17 GW is one of IRENA’s key recommendations for Thailand. Noting that RE national targets could be comfortably surpassed by a quarter to reach more than 37% by 2036, its report finds more ambitious deployment could save over US$9 billion annually, proving to be a major turning point for the entire economy.

The International Solar Alliance has launched three new solar programs: Scaling Solar Applications for Agriculture Use, Affordable Finance at Scale, and Scaling Solar Mini-grids. The programs will be under operations ahead of the ISA’s official accreditation on December 6.

India has installed total 1,861 MW rooftop PV as of September 2017 as the state of Maharashtra overtakes Tamil Nadu to become largest for rooftop solar, as per latest report by Bridge to India. Analysts have revised India’s rooftop projection to 10.8 GW by 2021.

CPI has summarized the present rooftop sector of India, its economics, and the financial facilities to the industry from government and banks. The analyst and advisory firm has presented the solutions for the current financial obstacles to the growth of rooftop solar. The team has presented two Indo-U.S. collaborative initiatives, USICEF and USICFP, with which these solutions can be implemented.

responsAbility and Cleantech Solar have signed an agreement for $20 million to finance rooftop solar energy for commercial and industrial customers in South-East Asia and India.

As Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is considering a new renewable electricity support scheme to replace the existing REFIT regime, Friends of the Earth voices concerns that the new scheme may fail to consider rooftop installations. The environmental NGO argues that introduction of a subsidy for rooftop solar PV is vital for putting the country on a decarbonization course.

Report by market analysts forecasts India to become world’s third-largest solar market for 2017 but warns of headwinds including rising competition forcing down tariffs, uncertainty caused by anti-dumping issue, and potential rising module prices.