India needs to scale up to 600 GW of non-fossil-fuel capacity by 2030 to meet its growing electricity demand reliably and affordably, according to a new study by Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
The study, How Can India Meet Its Rising Power Demand? Pathways to 2030, models India’s power system despatch for every 15 minutes in 2030. It found that if India’s electricity demand grows as per the Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) projections, the nation’s existing, under-construction, and planned generation capacities would suffice to meet power needs in 2030.
However, if power demand were to continue to outpace current projections due to a warming planet or strong economic growth over the coming five years, a high renewable energy (RE) pathway of 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 offers the most viable solution, mainly due to cheaper RE resources. This would include 377 GW of solar, 148 GW of wind, 62 GW of hydro, and 20 GW of nuclear energy.
Notably, India’s power demand reached a record 238 GW in February 2025 with peak demand expected to touch 260 GW in the summer months, surpassing projections due to unusually warm weather.
Shripad Yesso Naik, minister of state for power and new and renewable energy, said, “We have set ambitious targets to increase the capacity of non-fossil fuels and reach net zero by 2070. These goals are essential for a Viksit Bharat. Our clean energy journey has been remarkable — from 76 GW in 2014 to 220 GW in 2025 of non-fossil capacity. CEEW’s report, released today, is very timely in highlighting the pathways on this journey until 2030.”
Suresh Prabhu, former union cabinet minister, Government of India, and Trustee, CEEW, said, “India’s energy transition must match its economic ambitions. We need to plan for a high renewable share today to send the right market signals for tomorrow. Scaling up to 600 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 requires a future-ready policy and regulatory framework. 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.”
Ghanshyam Prasad, chairperson, Central Electricity Authority, said, “Annual scientific studies are needed to assess states’ resources and requirements to tackle offtake issues. Further, delivering RE targets must be a joint effort between the Centre and states. We need to take into account the comfort of each state in buying power depending on demand patterns as well. Finally, the share of electricity traded in power markets must grow.”
The CEEW report models multiple scenarios for India’s power sector in 2030, including a baseline 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 CEEW report highlights that challenges such as land procurement, timely grid connectivity and balancing, supply chain constraints and un-tied capacity under central auctions must be addressed to tap into the massive market potential and project implementation on the ground.
The report states 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 INR 13,000 crore and INR 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, compared to FY24. 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.
“The rapidly declining cost of battery storage favours a high RE pathway. For instance, in the last two years alone, tariffs for stand-alone battery storage have dropped by 65 per cent, without any subsidy support. Another positive step in scaling RE integration is the Indian government’s recent mandate for all future solar project tenders to include energy storage systems with at least two hours of capacity to improve grid stability,” states the report.
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