Pune, Apr 16 (IANS): Renewable energy major Suzlon announced on Monday that it commissioned 626 MW of wind power projects in the last financial year, achieving the most installations done by any company during 2017-18.

Suzlon, thereby, has gained a market share of 35 per cent despite an extremely challenging year for the sector and several hurdles due to the transition from the feed-in-tariff (FiT) to a bidding regime in the commissioning of projects, a company statement said here.

The company said that competitive bidding had resulted in a "paradigm shift in the way wind business is conducted in India".

"As a result, the overall wind industry installations plummeted to 1,766 MW in FY18 (32 per cent of FY17 installations) due to stagnant volumes, uncertainty on PPAs (power purchase agreements) and policy environment," it said.

Suzlon Group Chief Executive J.P. Chalasani said in the statement: "We have achieved this excellence despite a challenging year for the industry owing to the transition from feed-in-tariff (FiT) to the competitive bidding regime. We thank our team, 1,800+ customers, lenders and vendor partners for their unwavering support."

"FY19 would be the start of a high-volume market with central and state-level auctions in India. The sector will witness exponential growth with 10-12 GW (gigawatt) volumes each year. There is a clear visibility of volumes even before the start of FY19," he added.