India to beat Japan as Asia's second largest renewables market

Almost 120GW will be online by 2026.

India will be a key player in the Asian renewables market in terms of the size of its industry and rate of expansion over the coming decade--and growth rates will outperform the rest of the Asia region by a considerable margin, according to BMI Research.

"By the end of our forecast period in 2026, India will overtake Japan as the second largest renewables market in Asia by total installed capacity, with almost 120GW online," BMI Research said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a strong supporter of renewable energy and has set ambitious targets for the sector growth. Investor interest in the sector has been very high and the project pipeline - particularly for solar power - has strengthened accordingly.

"We expect the solar sector to register the greatest expansion, with high installation rates across both residential and utility-scale projects," it further said.