India's Q2 solar deployments smashed by virus crisis

India brought online just 205 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the second quarter of 2020, the lowest quarterly level in six years, Mercom India Research says in a new report.

The quarterly deployments dropped by 81% sequentially and by 86% year-on-year, according to the market analyst’s Q2 2020 India Solar Market Update. Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group, explained that the downturn reflects the market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 health and financial crisis and forecast that with monsoons setting in, the activity is not likely to pick up until the fourth quarter.

“Considering the realities on the ground, the industry needs more than the 30-day extension post-lockdown period currently granted by the government for project commissioning,” he added.

In view of the steep drop in installation levels, Mercom will stick to the worst-case scenario in its 2020 forecast, projecting 4,000 GW to be added in the full year. This scenario assumes that the virus crisis will worsen to a point where the commissioning of most projects will be pushed into 2021, Prabhu explained.

Second-quarter additions included 120 MW of large-scale installations, down 90% as compared to the year-ago period. Rooftop capacity deployments fell by 71% in annual terms to 85 MW. Demand in the sector, however, is picking up, Mercon noted.

Overall, India put on stream 2.3 GW of new power generation capacity in the first six months of 2020, with renewables being responsible for almost 85% of it. The share of solar PV, with 1.3 GW of new plants, stood at 56%.

At the end of June, India’s cumulative installed solar PV capacity totalled about 37 GW. The country had 42 GW of solar projects under development and 34 GW of projects tendered and awaiting auction.

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