In February 2025, the country’s power demand reached a record 238 GW with peak demand expected to touch 260 GW in the months of summer
India needs to target 600 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030 in order to meet its growing electricity demand in a reliable and an affordable way, a new study launched by a New Delhi based think tank said on Wednesday. Currently, the country has certain targets for renewable energy, which includes achieving 50 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources and increasing its renewable energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
According to the study launched by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), if power demand over the next five years outpaces the current projections, especially due to a warming planet, then the most viable solution would be a high renewable energy pathway of 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030.Among this capacity, 377 GW would be of solar, 148 GW of wind, 62 GW of hydro and 20 GW would be of nuclear energy.
In February 2025, the country’s power demand reached a record 238 GW with peak demand expected to touch 260 GW in the months of summer. The study titled “How Can India Meet Its Rising Power Demand? Pathways to 2030” was launched at the National Dialogue on Powering India’s Future and it found that if “India’s electricity demand grows as per the Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) projections, India’s existing, under-construction, and planned generation capacities would be adequate to meet power needs in 2030.”
Addressing the launch, Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shripad Yesso Naik said, “We have set ambitious targets to increase the capacity of non-fossil fuels and reach net zero by 2070. Our clean energy journey has been remarkable — from 76 GW in 2014 to 220 GW in 2025 of non-fossil capacity.” He further stated that each and every state must leverage its unique renewable energy potential and a clean grid must serve consumers efficiently, while also ensuring financial viability for discoms.
The report is based on modelling multiple scenarios for India's power sector in 2030, one of which included a scenario that assumes electricity demand grows as per CEA projections and that India meets its 500 GW non-fossil fuel target.
“ However, if India does not meet its clean energy targets, and reaches only 400 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030, power shortages could emerge, necessitating 10-16 GW of new coal capacity, and significant enhancements in the transmission network to ensure grid stability,” the study indicated.
Former Union Cabinet Minister Suresh Prabhu, who was also present at the launch noted that scaling up to 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 requires a future-ready policy and regulatory framework. He further said, “While the government is taking bold steps, stronger policies, industry collaboration, and research-driven, distributed solutions are essential to address challenges in grid management, deployment, and financing.”
Furthermore, the study found that deploying 600 GW of clean energy across more states could reduce generation costs by 6-18 paise per unit, eliminate the need for new coal plants, save between Rs 13,000 crore and Rs 42,400 crore in power procurement costs and create 53,000 to 1,00,000 additional jobs—all while cutting carbon emissions by 9-16 per cent, as compared to FY24.
However, achieving 600 GW-non-fossil capacity would require significant investments in flexible resources such as battery storage (70 GW of four-hour battery energy storage systems), pumped storage hydro (13 GW), and retrofitting 140 GW of coal capacity to manage grid stability.
According to the think tank’s study, the Ministry of Power must set a clear target of 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 and integrate it into the National Electricity Policy. The study also recommends that the Power Ministry should collaborate with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and other agencies in order to identify innovative models to utilise existing land and transmission infrastructure by co-locating wind and storage with solar projects, implement a Uniform RE Tariff (URET) to tackle concerns about falling clean energy prices, innovate bidding and contract designs and unlock de-risked merchant capacity for renewable energy sales.