Renewable Energy Policy and Development in India
Summary
India has embarked on a rapid expansion of renewable energy to reconcile burgeoning electricity demand with climate commitments. Central targets include achieving 175 GW of renewable capacity by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030, spanning solar, wind, small hydro and biomass. Policy instruments encompass competitive auctions, accelerated depreciation, viability gap funding and feed-in tariffs, supplemented by tax incentives and concessional finance. The National Solar Mission and wind energy programmes have fostered large-scale solar parks and onshore wind farms, while state governments deploy tailored schemes to harness regional resource advantages. Private-sector participation has surged through transparent bidding and long-term power purchase agreements. Infrastructure investment focuses on grid integration, storage pilot projects and inter-state transmission corridors. Despite strong growth, challenges persist: curtailment risks, land-use conflicts, grid variability, financing gaps and limited domestic manufacturing of key components. Emerging policy refinements aim to strengthen industrial value chains, incentivise low-impact land use, bolster grid resilience and streamline permitting. The evolving framework positions India as a major global market, with implications for decarbonisation pathways, technology innovation and equitable access to modern energy services.
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Renewable Energy Policy and Development in India publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in renewable energy policy and development in india across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Feed-in tariff: A guaranteed per-unit payment to renewable energy producers to encourage investment.
Capacity addition: Incremental installation of generating assets, measured in gigawatts (GW).
Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM): A quantitative framework to assess and prioritise complex factors in policy and project selection.
Grid integration: Technical and regulatory measures to manage variability and stability in power systems with high renewable penetration.
Domestic content requirement: A policy stipulating a minimum share of locally manufactured components in renewable energy projects.
References
- Pathways to low carbon energy transition through multi criteria assessment of offshore wind energy barriers. Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2023).
- The critical role of energy transition in addressing climate change at COP28. Results in Engineering (2024).
- The politics of late late development in renewable energy sectors: Dependency and contradictory tensions in India’s National Solar Mission. World Development (2020).
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