The country added 22 gigawatts of capacity during the six months through June, 56% more than a year earlier, according to data from the government’s Central Electricity Authority.
The nation’s clean energy capacity, including large hydropower and nuclear, has now surpassed that of fossil fuels. This will further India’s ambition to install 500 gigawatts of non-fossil sources by the end of the decade, a plan that had previously faced skepticism due to the slow pace of deployment.
Still, coal accounts for nearly three-quarters of the power generation in the world’s third biggest emitter and India continues to expand capacity to meet future demand. Reducing this dependence would require large-scale deployment of energy storage infrastructure to stabilize intermittent power flows from solar and wind.
“India is not yet undergoing a true energy transition,” Sushma Jagannath, vice-president for renewables and power at Rystad Energy, said in a note. Without urgent grid upgrades and large storage deployment, “coal will remain central to electrification efforts, jeopardizing progress toward India’s net zero goals,” she said.
