Renewable Energy Sector ( UPSC Prelims)

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News Context

In 2025, India's renewable energy sector reached two significant milestones: by July 2025, renewable energy fulfilled 51.5% of the nation's total electricity demand, and by September 2025, the proportion of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources hit 51%.

India’s key targets for renewable energy sector

• Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) target (Revised in 2022)
    o Attain 50% of the total installed electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030, achieving this milestone five years earlier than planned.
 • Panchamrita targets (set for 2030)
    o Fulfill 50% of energy needs using renewable energy
    o Achieve a non-fossil energy capacity of 500 GW

Status of India’s Renewable Energy (RE) sector

The installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources such as renewable energy, hydro, and nuclear is projected to reach 256.09 GW by September 2025. The distribution by category, in descending order, is as follows: Solar accounts for 39.4%, Wind for 10.6%, Hydro power for 10%, Biomass/Cogeneration for 2.1%, Waste to Energy for 0.2%, Nuclear for 1.8%, and Small Hydropower for 1%. According to the IRENA RE Statistics 2025, the global ranking positions are 4th in Renewable Energy Installed Capacity, 4th in Wind Power, 3rd largest ethanol producer, and 3rd in Solar Power capacity.
 In terms of progress, there has been approximately a threefold increase in Installed RE capacity from 2014 to 2025, a 40-fold increase in Solar energy during the same period, and a 30% increase in Wind energy capacity from 2020 to 2024. The top five states leading in renewable energy are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.