India’s green energy transition is often projected as a success story of scale and speed. Renewable energy capacity has surged from about 75 GW in 2015 to nearly 250 GW in 2025. Yet, beneath this headline growth lies a serious structural problem: electricity grids and transmission networks are failing to keep pace with renewable generation. The result is rising curtailment, stranded capacity, financial stress for developers, and a slowing momentum in what is meant to be a cornerstone of India’s climate strategy.
When renewable capacity outpaces the grid
India today has one of the world’s largest transmission networks. However, renewable energy capacity has expanded far faster than the grid’s ability to evacuate power. Solar and wind projects can be commissioned within a year, while transmission lines typically take at least two years, often more, because of land, forest and regulatory hurdles.
Between 2019 and 2025, India’s solar capacity alone tripled from around 35 GW to over 100 GW, growing at nearly 24% annually. Over the same period, transmission capacity grew at barely 6.5%. This mismatch has created a generation overshoot, where power is available but cannot be transported to demand centres.
Curtailment: the hidden brake on green growth
The consequences are now visible across states. Rajasthan has seen daytime solar curtailment of around 4 GW during several months in 2025 due to congestion in evacuation corridors. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have also reported curtailments ranging from 10% to 30% of renewable generation, particularly during solar peak hours.
Even more worrying is the stranding of nearly 50 GW of renewable capacity nationwide because transmission links are not ready. For developers, this translates into lost revenues and rising uncertainty, undermining investor confidence in the sector.
Why existing policy tools are not enough
Over the years, the government has rolled out multiple frameworks — green energy corridors, General Network Access (GNA) and Transitional GNA, waiver of inter-state transmission system (ISTS) charges, and the “one nation, one grid, one price” vision. Yet, transmission constraints persist.
One reason is that planning for generation and transmission still happens in silos. Renewable projects are bid, awarded and built faster than the grid expansion meant to support them. Energy storage, often presented as the solution to variability and congestion, is progressing slowly due to high upfront costs and supply chain challenges. Against a target of 400 GWh of storage by 2031–32, actual deployment remains modest.
Land, environment and the Right of Way problem
Transmission expansion is not just a technical challenge; it is deeply embedded in land and social politics. A persistent hurdle is securing the Right of Way (RoW) — a limited legal right to use land owned by others for transmission lines.
Although transmission projects are exempt from prior environmental clearance under the Environmental (Protection) Rules, 1986, they still face multiple clearances related to forests, wildlife, land laws and local opposition. Compensation is a flashpoint. While legal norms provide relatively low compensation, landowners often demand amounts many times higher, reflecting market realities.
A committee constituted by the Ministry of Power in 2005 attempted to standardise compensation, recommending up to 85% of land value for severe damage and up to 15% for diminution of land value for high-voltage lines. In practice, disputes continue to delay projects for years.
Legal gaps exposed by wildlife and conservation cases
The structural weaknesses in India’s transmission framework were highlighted by the Supreme Court in “MK Ranjitsinh v Union of India” (2024), which examined the threat posed by overhead transmission lines to the endangered Great Indian Bustard. While the Court sought a balance between development and conservation, the case exposed a critical gap: the Electricity Act, 2003 does not deal with land acquisition for transmission lines.
As a result, renewable energy transmission is forced to navigate a maze of overlapping land laws, environmental safeguards and social contestations, without a clear, unified legal framework.
Why coordination is now the central challenge
India’s renewable push is no longer limited by ambition or capital alone; it is constrained by coordination. Generation capacity, transmission planning, land acquisition, environmental protection and state-level consent are all moving at different speeds and under different authorities.
Without synchronising renewable capacity addition with grid expansion, curtailment will continue to rise. Taking states into confidence, streamlining RoW compensation, integrating environmental planning early, and aligning transmission timelines with renewable bidding are now essential.
The road ahead for India’s energy transition
India’s green transition cannot succeed on megawatts alone. A grid that cannot carry clean power is as limiting as a lack of generation itself. Transmission infrastructure, often invisible in public discourse, has become the critical bottleneck in India’s climate and energy goals.
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