India’s renewable energy transition looks impressive from a capacity perspective, 220.10 GW of RE installed as of March 2025. But generation tells a more sobering story.
Total electricity generation rose from 1105.38 BU (Billion Units) in 2014–15 to 1824.12 BU in 2024–25 , a 65 per cent increase. Renewable generation rose from 190.96 BU to 403.64 BU, more than doubling.
But here’s the problem, despite massive RE growth, renewables’ share in total generation rose only from 17.28 per cent to 22.13 per cent over ten years.
Demand is growing faster than clean energy.
Solar generation surged the most, from 4.6 BU to 144.15 BU, a 30-fold increase. Wind rose from 33.77 BU to 83.35 BU. But thermal generation also expanded in absolute terms, maintaining dominance.
This means India is not replacing fossil power, it is adding renewable power on top of rising fossil consumption.
The deeper challenge is structural. A growing economy with rising household incomes, cooling demand, digital infrastructure, and industrial expansion will continue pushing electricity consumption upward. Renewable energy has to sprint just to keep pace.
The next decade requires a shift in thinking: more renewable energy alone won’t increase RE share, demand must be aligned with clean supply. Large hydro, nuclear, and storage must scale to manage variability, and transmission investments must accelerate to help RE flow to consumption centres.
India’s clean energy progress is real, but the generation-share data shows that the country is running on a treadmill, moving fast, but not necessarily getting closer to deep decarbonisation. |
