India’s renewable energy sector has witnessed remarkable growth, expanding from 75.52 GW in 2014 to 232 GW, with solar energy playing a pivotal role in this progress. Growing from just 2.82 GW to over 108 GW, the country’s solar manufacturing capacity has seen a major boost, with module production now reaching 90 GW. This threefold rise highlights India’s emergence as a global leader in clean energy.
Wind energy has also seen significant growth, more than doubling from 21 GW to 51 GW during the same period. In addition, large hydro power projects have played a key role in this expansion.
Besides, India’s solar manufacturing sector has witnessed significant expansion. In 2014, the country had a modest solar module production capacity of just 2 GW. Over the past decade, solar power tariffs have declined by 80%, with current rates at Neemuch as low as Rs 10.95 per unit, greatly enhancing affordability and encouraging wider adoption. By 2024, this figure surged to 90 GW, with projections suggesting it could reach 150 GW by 2030.
Meanwhile, solar cell production has climbed to 25 GW, and wafer production has reached 2 GW, both rising from nearly negligible levels a decade ago. Thus, the government aims to scale solar cell and wafer capacities to 100 GW and 40 GW, respectively, by 2030, with fully integrated production capacity expected to touch 24 GW.
In the rooftop solar sector, the PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana has made a significant impact by benefiting 13.3 lakh households, with nearly 12 lakh installations completed in just ten months.
Further, Biopower has also experienced steady progress, with capacity growing by 42% from 8.1 GW in 2014 to 11.5 GW in 2024. The compressed biogas (CBG) sector, which started with just one project of 8 tonnes per day (TPD) capacity, has expanded to 150 projects, collectively producing 1,211 TPD.
In 2024 alone, India added 25 GW of renewable energy capacity, representing a 34.63% increase from the previous year’s 18.57 GW. To achieve its ambitious goal of 500 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, the country will need to sustain an annual addition of around 50 GW. Supporting these targets, four renewable energy implementing agencies have issued tenders totalling approximately 44 GW for the fiscal year 2024-25.
Therefore, by April 2024, India became the world’s third-largest producer of electricity from wind and solar sources, overtaking Germany and solidifying its role as a major contributor to the global clean energy transition.
