India Becomes World’s Second largest Clean Energy Investment Market

India has become the second largest nation in the world this year for clean energy investment, from the fifth largest in 2017. The renewable auctions market in India is the largest in the world. India’s total installed power generating capacity stood at 346 GW in June 2018. Indian renewable energy installations also exceeded coal power installations for the first time in 2017. A pro-renewable energy government at the center and favorable policies have pushed the investor sentiment towards the renewable energy market in India.

Also, read India Renewable Energy Report Card

Over 11 GW of projects were awarded through auctions in 2017. India’s solar market almost doubled in size in 2017 and clean energy investment totaled $7.4 billion in the first half of 2018 itself. Solar investments accounted for a lion’s share. Total PV installations touched 9.4 GW in 2017 and total renewables (excluding large hydro) stood at 71 GW as of June 2018.

A new report from Crisil has predicted that the pace of growth will slow down and solar installations in FY19 would fall to 7,400 MW from the astounding ~9,400 MW in FY18. No fresh deals, cancellation of projects, and 18% GST are headwinds for the Indian solar sector presently. The competition among investors has thus intensified. With prices of modules falling being nullified by rupee depreciation and imports becoming expensive the Indian market is facing tough times.

India has an ambitious target of 100 GW solar power installations by 2022 and should be able to tide over given the hype around increasing clean energy investments in the country. India is currently in the second position after Chile according to the 2018 Climatescope report by energy researcher BloombergNEF, out of the 103 nations evaluated. The country is ahead of the majority of nations based on its clean energy policies, power sector structures, emissions and installed capacities. China ranked 7th, down from the top position last year.

Here is the scorecard of the top ten nations by clean energy investments: