With men driving India’s renewable energy push, what role do women play?
India’s solar and wind energy capacity is increasing year on year. According to data released by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, between 2022-23 and 2024-25, installed solar energy capacity recorded an average annual growth of 38 per cent, while wind energy capacity grew by 35 per cent. As of May 2025, total cumulative installed capacity stood at 110.8 gigawatts (GW) for solar energy and 51.3 GW for wind energy.
Employment within the renewable energy sector has grown as well. According to Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, between 2022-23 and 2023-24, the number of individuals engaged in electric power generation using solar energy increased by 86 per cent and those engaged in generation using other non-conventional sources (including wind energy) increased by 206 per cent.
However, the sectors remain heavily male-dominated, with women making up only a small share of the workforce.
As detailed in an earlier Down To Earth article by the authors, there is no separate industrial classification for the wind electricity sector; it is subsumed under ‘other non-conventional sources’.
Skills and jobs
From the recent two rounds of PLFS data, we find that women engaged in solar and other non-conventional electricity generation sectors typically do not have formal technical education, though they may acquire non-formal technical or vocational training through on-the-job learning.
Correspondingly, the few women in the sector are largely concentrated in non-technical administrative roles, such as keyboard operators, general office clerks, sales workers and business services and administration managers.
Notably, in terms of employment quality (that is, the benefits offered to female employees), the latest PLFS data (2023-24) show that women employed in these sectors generally have a written job contract and are eligible for paid leave, provident fund, pension or gratuity and health or maternity benefits.
By contrast, technical and engineering-related job roles employ only men. The top male-dominated roles include machinery mechanics and repairers, protective service workers, managing directors and chief executives, electrical equipment installers and repairers, process control technicians and electrotechnology engineers.
Some men are also employed in finance, ICT, other administrative roles, or in low-skilled roles such as elementary workers, drivers, clerks and manufacturing labourers.
Gender diversity: Challenges and potential
NCAER recently conducted a National Skill Gap Study for High Growth Sectors (2025) at the behest of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), which highlighted such gender gaps. Primary data collected through stakeholder consultations corroborated and supplemented the findings from the secondary data analysis, by:
identifying additional job roles in green electricity generation,
highlighting the challenges of increasing female employment and
recognising the potential for women’s participation in the sector.
Stakeholders acknowledged the very limited presence of women in solar and wind electricity generation and noted that the few employed are typically in corporate office-based roles. These include administrative positions (such as accounts, project finance, secretarial and human resources) as well as some technical roles, including engineers (across domains), engineering pre-design, project coordination, management information systems, policy and regulatory work and resource assessment, forecasting, monitoring and scheduling.
An absence of women in on-site roles (at solar and wind farms) was unanimously recognised, particularly for positions requiring extended site stays, such as operation and maintenance (O&M). Stakeholders expressed willingness to promote gender diversity in these core on-site roles, but several challenges persist:
Low female representation in technical training: Few women enrol in Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) offering disciplines preferred by the renewable energy industry (electrical, electronics, civil, mechanical, fitter, instrumentation, welding).
Geographical barriers: Women rarely apply for O&M roles because renewable energy sites are in remote locations.
Physical work perceptions: There is a prevalent belief that women cannot perform physically demanding tasks, especially in wind O&M, which involves climbing wind turbines.
Despite these challenges, some positive developments have emerged. Firms increasingly:
treat applications from men and women on par,
have prevention of sexual harassment (POSH) policies and committees and
provide crèche facilities at corporate offices (though not at remote sites).
Some firms also reported incentive policies for recruitment agencies when female candidates are hired and the establishment of ‘technical committees’ to encourage women’s participation in technical roles.
Looking ahead, the prospects for increasing women’s employment appear higher in roles related to resource assessment and forecasting, power system design, plant engineering and design and project management. O&M roles in the wind sector may become feasible with the introduction of lifts for turbine access and in both solar and wind sectors as automation and remote diagnostics expand.
Overall, the findings suggest that women’s employment in the green energy sector is formal and well-supported with benefits. With firms actively seeking women across various roles, including technical ones, there are clear returns to formal technical and vocational education if women choose to pursue these pathways.
Isha Dayal is Fellow and Bornali Bhandari is Professor at National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
Views expressed are authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect that of Down To Earth.