India beefs up power capacity
India published a 2026–2036 power roadmap emphasizing renewables, storage and grid reliability while also hitting 150 GW of installed solar after a large recent build‑out. The plan includes long‑term ambitions such as scaling nuclear capacity toward 100 GW by 2047, which alters the calculus for locating energy‑intensive manufacturing. (solarquarter.com) (pv-magazine.com) (english.mathrubhumi.com)
India has redrawn its power map for the next decade as solar capacity passed 150 gigawatts and planners shifted attention to storage and grid stability. (pib.gov.in) The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said India’s cumulative installed solar capacity reached 150.26 gigawatts on March 31, 2026, including 110.43 gigawatts of utility-scale projects, 25.73 gigawatts of rooftop systems and 14.10 gigawatts from KUSUM and other off-grid projects. (pib.gov.in) JMK Research data cited by PV Magazine showed India added about 44.6 gigawatts of new photovoltaic capacity in fiscal 2025-26, the country’s biggest annual solar build-out on record. (pv-magazine.com) At the same time, the Central Electricity Authority released a transmission plan for integrating more than 900 gigawatts of non-fossil generation by 2035-36, putting wires and substations at the center of the energy push. (pib.gov.in) That shift reflects a basic power-system problem: solar panels produce most when the sun shines, but factories, trains and air conditioners need electricity on schedule, so planners are pairing more renewable generation with storage and reserve capacity. (powermin.gov.in) India’s power ministry has been moving toward that model for more than a year, with resource-adequacy rules that tell utilities to contract enough firm capacity to meet demand reliably rather than simply add the cheapest megawatts. (pib.gov.in) The backdrop is a much larger national target: India says it wants 500 gigawatts of non-fossil installed power capacity by 2030, after already crossing 50 percent of installed capacity from non-fossil sources in June 2025. (pib.gov.in) By March 31, 2026, the country had 283.46 gigawatts of non-fossil installed capacity, including 274.68 gigawatts of renewable energy and 8.78 gigawatts of nuclear power, according to official figures. (mnre.gov.in) Nuclear is the long-range piece of the plan. Recent government-linked reports said India wants at least 100 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2047, up from 8.78 gigawatts now, with both large reactors and small modular systems under discussion. (english.mathrubhumi.com) For manufacturers that need round-the-clock electricity, that combination of solar, transmission, storage and future nuclear matters more than any single headline capacity number. India is now trying to show it can build all four at once. (pib.gov.in)
