India seeks to triple clean energy capacity to 900 gigawatts by 2035, but major hurdles remain

BENGALURU, India — With the United Nations climate talks underway, India has set an ambitious goal of installing enough clean power to supply more than 1 billion homes by 2035, and has approved nearly $20 billion in power grid upgrades to ease bottlenecks that prevent some solar and wind energy from reaching consumers.

The world’s most populous country and one of the biggest carbon polluters is also among the fastest to expand clean power. Accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels is a key goal of this year’s climate talks, known as COP31, in Turkey.

India announced the 900-gigawatt goal in late September. It covers nonfossil power sources, including solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear energy. It is nearly twice India’s existing target of 500 gigawatts of clean power by 2030. India’s current clean power capacity of just over 300 gigawatts ranks it third behind China and the United States.

Experts say meeting the target could lower electricity costs, curb coal construction and accelerate the transition to clean energy.

The push comes as India struggles to use all the renewable electricity it can generate because of inadequate transmission infrastructure. The new goal refers to installed generating capacity, rather than the amount of electricity actually produced.

“If the grid doesn’t catch up, then there is no way India can meet this target,” Nikit Abhyankar from the India Energy and Climate Center at the University of California, Berkeley, said. “A robust and innovative transmission grid is an absolute must.”

The government also approved nearly $20 billion in funding for transmission infrastructure and battery storage under its Green Energy Corridor plan.

Economist Ajay Shah of the Mumbai-based XKDR Forum described the transition as the emergence of an Indian “electrostate,” in which electricity increasingly replaces coal and petroleum products.

“So now in India you have two assets — not only do you have cheap labor, you also have cheap energy,” Shah said.

The shift mirrors a global trend toward cleaner power, even as fossil fuel energy remains a key energy source amid rising electricity demand. Brazil, which ranks close behind India in clean energy capacity, projects renewables will supply nearly 90% of its electricity in the next decade, even as it expands oil and gas production. In the United States, where President Donald Trump supports fossil fuels, electricity demand is expected to grow by 40%, with natural gas remaining a major source.

India’s clean energy expansion could help industries replace costly imported fossil fuels with domestically produced electricity. Abhyankar said solar and wind power, even when combined with battery storage, are increasingly cost-competitive with power from coal, oil and natural gas.

Lower generation costs could eventually translate into cheaper electricity for households, though utilities also factor in transmission costs and other expenses.

However, India’s continued dependence on coal presents a major challenge to its clean energy transition. Coal generated about 71% of the country’s electricity in 2025, according to energy think tank Ember.

India’s power planners remain concerned about meeting growing demand and maintaining reliable electricity when solar and wind output fluctuates. Ghanshyam Prasad, chair of the Central Electricity Authority, said earlier this month that India could need as much as 150 gigawatts of additional coal-fired generating capacity by 2035.

Ember energy analyst Neshwin Rodrigues said coal will remain important for years, particularly until large-scale batteries can store solar energy to reliably meet demand when the sun isn’t shining.

Existing coal plants also pose operational challenges. Many cannot quickly reduce output when renewable electricity becomes available, making it difficult for the grid to accommodate growing solar and wind power.

Researchers at Berkeley estimate that beyond approximately 35 gigawatts of coal capacity already under construction, additional coal plants would not be economically necessary under the country’s new clean energy goals. Berkeley’s Abhyankar warned that newly built coal plants could become stranded assets if the government meets its renewable energy targets.

Meeting the 2035 target requires more than building more renewable power plants. Their electricity must be able to reach consumers.

India’s rapid clean energy expansion is already testing the grid’s limits. Although clean power accounted for 55% of installed power capacity by September, it generated about a third of the country’s electricity in the preceding three months, according to government data.

Over the past 16 months, India curtailed enough solar generation to power about 10 million homes because the grid could not accommodate it, according to government data and Ember.

The Green Energy Corridor plan aims to help states accommodate up to 135 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2033 by adding thousands of kilometers (miles) of transmission lines. The plan also includes additional battery storage.

But analysts question whether that’s enough. The Berkeley researchers estimate that India needs as much as 250 gigawatts of energy storage to integrate renewable electricity over the next decade.

“You either have more transmission to get the power out and transfer it. Or if you cannot get the power out, you store it and then transfer it during some other hours,” Ember’s Rodrigues said.

Shah, the economist, said two types of government policy could discourage investment in renewable energy: requirements that businesses pay higher rates to subsidize other consumers, and restrictions on electricity producers selling directly to private buyers.

He said India needs to allow electricity prices to rise and fall based on supply and demand, and make it easier for foreign investors to fund power projects. Domestic financing alone would not be enough to meet the country’s growing energy needs, he said.

“Currently, the government is a man in the middle, trying to interfere in a transaction between a private generator and a private buyer,” which creates a “choke point,” Shah said.

Battery supply chains pose another challenge, particularly India’s dependence on imported battery cells, mainly from China. Abhyankar said expanding domestic battery manufacturing could help India capture more economic benefits from the transition.

Despite those challenges, Abhyankar said India has already overtaken the United States in annual renewable energy growth, and its experience in expanding clean energy could be a model for other developing countries.

“What India is doing can be replicated in many countries in the Global South and can help these countries make the energy transition in an economically affordable manner,” he said.

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Sibi Arasu can be followed on X at @sibi123. Reach him at [email protected].

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