A Lookback at Solar Industry’s Performance in Q1 2021 and the Path Ahead

In the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, the Indian solar industry added 2,056 MW of solar. The solar capacity additions in Q1 2021 were the highest in a quarter since Q3 2019.
The recently released Q1 2021 India Solar Market Update by Mercom India Research has comprehensively captured the major developments, price and market movements, and industry sentiments.
On Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at 11:00 AM IST, Mercom will host a webinar on ‘State of the Indian Solar Market – Addressing Major Shifts in the Industry and the Path Forward’.
The focus of the discussion will be on the performance of the market in the first quarter of the year and the outlook for the rest of the year. The webinar will also touch on some of the important policies and how they could affect the market going forward.
Mercom’s senior team – Raj Prabhu, Chief Executive Officer, Mercom Capital Group, and Priya Sanjay, Managing Director, Mercom India – will analyze the trends that are shaping the market right now, as well as the outlook for the rest of 2021.
Lookback at Solar Industry’s Performance in Q1 2021 and the Path Ahead
You can register for the webinar by clicking here.
Just when the country was coming out of a debilitating first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses and markets were hit by a more severe resurgence of the virus, leading to localized lockdowns and business uncertainties.
The pandemic-related crisis had a ripple effect across the solar industry, destabilizing both the supply chain and construction activities.
Large-scale solar project costs rose by 4% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) due to rising module costs and raw material prices like steel, iron, aluminum, and copper. Indian solar developers and engineering, procurement, and construction service providers have also been hit hard by the increase in freight charges and the shortage of raw materials that have pushed the prices up for projects and disrupted timelines.
India imported solar cells and modules amounting to $259 million (~?18.93 billion), a 132% increase compared to Q4 CY 2020. The numbers are 72% higher than $150.57 million (~?10.83 billion) during the same period last year. The increase in imports resulted from improved demand due to the initial waning impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in Q1 2021. However, commercial activities have again slowed down because of the second wave of the pandemic. Solar exports, however, showed a marginal decline of 19% compared to $35.09 million (~?2.51 billion) during the same period last year.
India’s open access solar installations totaled 419 MW in the Q1 2021, while the cumulative solar installations in the open access market reached 4.3 GW as of March 2021. The numbers are revealed in Mercom India Research’s India Open Access Solar Market Update Q1 2021.
India generated about 17.5 BU of solar power compared to 14.2 BU in the previous quarter. The data shows that normalcy was returning with solar generation higher than the pre-Covid levels of Q1 2020.
The upcoming webinar will address the major shifts and their impact on the solar market.