India has seen a 4,000 per cent increase in installed solar capacity over the past decade, said Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, virtually addressing the India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2025, held in Delhi from July 8 to July 10, 2025, which brought together stakeholders from across the energy value chain.
The country’s overall renewable energy capacity currently stands at a robust 227 gigawatts, Goyal said. “We are likely the first Group of 20 (G20) country to have achieved the goals of the nationally determined contributions (NDC) we set out to accomplish in the Paris Agreement,” he said at the event.
The country has significantly increased its manufacturing capacity in the past decade, Goyal said. Solar photovoltaic (PV) module capacity had increased 38-fold, while PV cell capacity had expanded 21 times over the past ten years.
Emphasising the need for a holistic approach to clean energy, he stated: “Our ambitions must encompass the entire energy value chain, from critical minerals and cell components to energy storage and recycling. Stakeholders should seek new opportunities to scale operations, ensuring 24-hour renewable energy availability and working towards achieving the goal of 500 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.”
Goyal also stressed the importance of reducing dependence on specific regions for critical materials. “We must explore alternative supply sources and advancing newer technologies to enhance Atma Nirbharta (self-reliance) and ensure resilience in our supply chains,” he said.
Speaking earlier during the three-day event, Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told participants that India has made significant strides in its energy generation efforts. “Currently, we have reached almost 50 per cent of our total generation capacity of 472 gigawatts (GW) and by the end of this year, India is on track to achieve the 50 per cent renewable energy milestone of 472 GW,” he said.
However, Khattar underlined the urgent need to improve energy storage systems to stabilise the grid and ensure 24/7 clean energy access. “The cost of energy storage has significantly decreased — from Rs 10 lakh per megawatt to Rs 2.5 lakh per megawatt per month — in the past three to four years, which indicates a reduction to one-fourth of the original cost,” he added.
A press note by the central government released June 22, India’s total installed power capacity reached 476 GW as of June 2025. Of this, non-fossil fuel sources now contribute 235.7 GW (49 per cent), including 226.9 GW of renewable energy and 8.8 GW of nuclear energy.
India has set a target to achieve 500 GW of installed non-fossil energy capacity by 2030 under its NDCs to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This shift is aimed at phasing out coal, which currently dominates the country’s energy mix.
Highlighting India’s push towards green hydrogen as part of its drive for energy independence, Khattar said India aims to produce 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen and set up electrolyser capacity between 60 GW and 100 GW, backed by a Rs 19,744 crore National Green Hydrogen Mission.
At the IESW, Ghanshyam Prasad, chairperson of the Central Electricity Authority, provided an update on India’s Battery Energy Storage System capacity, which currently stands at a modest 205 megawatts (MW), or approximately 506 megawatt-hours (MWh).
However, starting from 2026-2027, India is targeting to increase the capacities to around 74 gigawatts (GW) by 2031-32, Prasad said. “This year, the government aims to target approximately 3,000 MW of hydro pumped storage project capacity and is working towards increasing the total pumped storage project capacity to 50 GW in the coming years. The challenge is to raise the current hydro pumped storage capacity from 5 GW to 50 GW within the next 5 to 6 years,” he added.
We recognise the challenge and are working actively to meet it, Prasad said.
The IESW 2025 was organised by the Indian Energy Storage Alliance, an industry body focused on promoting energy storage, e-mobility and green hydrogen adoption in India.