India’s Story of Systematic Transition and Acceleration in Renewable Energy Deployments

Written by Dr. Ashvini Kumar and Dr. Amit Kumar Singh Parihar

India is probably the only country in the world who had a separate dedicated administrative set-up within the Government in 1981 for renewable energy, soon after having successfully organized the ISES Congress in 1978 in New Delhi. This mechanism made available Government support to various activities pertaining to the development and promotion of renewable energy, including R&D, development of appliances, field demonstration, and commercialization. As a result, many developments took place, led by domestic companies and supported by technical and financial support under bilateral cooperations in some cases. These were largely for distributed energy applications such as flat plate solar collectors, solar water heating systems, solar cookers, solar dryers, solar cooling systems, industrial process heat applications, solar lighting products, solar PV water pumping systems, roof-top PV installations, and small capacity PV power plants.  Side by side, the development of utility-scale power through the development of wind power and small hydro projects took place.

For capitalizing solar resource, the National Solar Mission was launched in 2010, which was a comprehensive policy framework to create demand, price reduction in the cost of solar power, financial and fiscal measures for de-risking the sector, and to develop domestic manufacturing capacity. The basic doctrine of its implementation was contained in the 3Ss - Scale, Speed, and Skill.

Figure 1: Key features of the National Solar Mission

These efforts have resulted in an installation of over 217 GW of non-fossil capacity as of early 2025, with solar as the highest contributor with 104 GW, followed by wind with 50 GW. While this growth in solar energy has been mainly dominated by utility-scale plants, decentralized solar systems, including solar rooftops, have received renewed interest owing to their distinct advantages. In addition, the country has successfully demonstrated replicable models of decentralized renewable energy systems with private sector-led models to provide reliable electricity access and power productive applications.

Figure 2: Year-wise capacity addition and cumulative installed solar capacity (GW)

A snap-shot on important policy measures is given below:

1. PLI Scheme on manufacturing of solar cells and modules: The production linked incentive (PLI) scheme aims to build an ecosystem for the manufacturing of high-efficiency solar PV modules in India and thus reducing import dependence. The scheme is implemented in two tranches as follows:

• Tranche-I: The Government of India approved the scheme on 7th April, 2021 with an outlay of Rs. 4,500 crore. Letters of Award were issued in November and December 2021 to three successful bidders for setting up of 8,737 MW capacity of fully integrated Solar PV Module manufacturing units.
• Tranche-II: Subsequently, the Government of India approved an enhanced outlay of Rs. 19,500 crore for the scheme. Letters of Award (LoAs) have been issued to 11 bidders in April 2023 for setting up 39,600 MW of fully / partially integrated solar PV module manufacturing.

2. PLI Scheme on manufacturing of advanced chemistry cells (ACC): This scheme with an outlay of ₹18,000 crore over 5 years, aims to establish 50 GWh of cumulative capacity by 2030. Out of the 50 GWh ACC capacity, 40 GWh has been awarded to three companies viz. i) Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd. who have commissioned 1 GWh ACC capacity, producing 40,000+ ACCs and they are expanding capacity to 5 GWh with NMC chemistry and targeting 100 GWh in Tamil Nadu ii) Reliance New Energy Solar Limited who plans to have a gigafactory to be operational by 2026 for battery chemicals, cells, and packs using LFP chemistry targeting 50 GWh per annum by 2027, and 100 GWh by 2030 iii) Rajesh Exports Limited have completed prototype testing and placed orders for critical plant and machinery.
3. National Hydrogen Mission: The basic aim of the Mission is to make India a Global Hub for the production, usage, and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives. The Mission would lead to significant decarbonisation of the economy and reduced dependence on fossil fuel imports so as to enable India to assume technology and market leadership in Green Hydrogen. For creating domestic demand, a minimum share of consumption of green hydrogen or its derivative products such as green ammonia, green methanol etc. would be specified for the designated consumers as energy or feedstock.

The specific provisions of the Mission includes:

• Two distinct financial incentive mechanisms proposed with an outlay of ₹ 17,490 crore up to 2029-30 for incentives for i) manufacturing of electrolysers, and ii) production of green hydrogen.
• Pilot Projects: i) Outlay of ₹ 455 crore up to 2029-30 for low carbon steel projects, ii) Outlay of ₹ 496 crore for mobility projects, and iii) Outlay of ₹ 115 crore for shipping pilot projects.
• Green Hydrogen Hubs: It is envisaged to identify and develop regions capable of supporting large-scale production and/or utilization of Hydrogen as Green Hydrogen Hubs. To begin with, setting up of at least two such hubs in the initial phase with an outlay of ₹ 400 crore is provided.

4. PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (PM-SGMBY): This is one of the world's largest residential roof-top solar initiative, launched in February 2024, with a target to supply solar power to 10 million households by March 2027. This scheme provides capital subsidy up to 30% of the cost (subject to benchmarks and system capacity) for the installation of rooftop solar systems, empowering households to generate their own electricity, thereby reducing reliance on the national grid and lowering electricity bills. Key achievements observed within the first 13 months of implementation include 1.1 million installations, averaging 70,000 installations per month as against an average of 7,000 installations per month before the launch of the scheme.

The country is at the forefront of driving technological innovation to achieve our bigger ambition of Net Zero by 2070. This includes emerging solar technologies like Agri-PV and floating solar to expand solar power generation and address land use constraints. The country has identified a potential of over 3,000 GW and 207 GW, respectively, through these routes. NTPC, which is India’s largest integrated power company, is working on a 160 MWh long-duration energy storage (LDES) project using Energy Dome's CO2 Battery technology. This innovative technology stores energy by compressing CO2 gas in a closed-loop system, enabling cost-effective, long-duration storage with a lifespan of 25+ years without any performance degradation. India's vast coastline, approximately 7,600 kilometres, presents a unique offshore wind energy development opportunity with an overall estimated potential of around 195 GW across the country and around ~71 GW off the coasts of Tamil Nadu (35 GW) and Gujarat (36 GW).  The Government is making efforts to develop offshore wind power in the country by providing Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support for developing a total of 1 GW capacity in the states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

India is a country of regions with hugely varied climatic conditions and economic indicators. Though India has a long journey ahead in its clean energy transition, all out efforts are being made to share its learning with other developing countries, especially in the Global South with a view to accelerating their adoption of solar energy. Some of the areas identified for this purpose include

• Renewable Energy Transition
• Clean Mobility and Electrification, including electrification of transport fleets & solar-based charging infrastructure
• Sustainable Agriculture and Electrification
• Climate Finance and Economic Resilience, including carbon finance for farmers and development and operationalizing the Green Credit Program, and strengthening Climate Finance through Fiscal Federalism.
• Skilling/capacity building as an export service

Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF) has been collaborating with various stakeholders including Solar Energy Society of India (SESI) in the country to drive clean energy transition through (i) action-oriented research to support evidence-backed policy interventions, (ii) engagement with policy and business stakeholders to develop the solution framework for large-scale deployment, and (iii) collaboration with relevant stakeholders for institutional capacity building, awareness creation, and technical assistance. Recently, a webinar was organized on 20 November 2024 by the SESI jointly with the ISES, TERI and SSEF aiming at to recommend policy framework to accelerate deployment of solar thermal projects for industrial and other heat applications, which was huge success.  SESI is also actively engaged with solar professionals in the country, especially the students in the academic institutions to sensitize them on emerging policies supporting solar energy deployments.

As we step into 2025, we look forward to continuing and expanding our efforts as an ecosystem enabler on advancing clean energy not only in India but also in Global South countries by leveraging the power of collective action and facilitating collaboration among all the stakeholders.

Reference:

[1] https://mnre.gov.in/

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