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Solar power in India

2050 MW Pavagada Solar Park, India's second-largest in Pavagada, Karnataka

Solar power in India is an essential source of renewable energy and electricity generation in India. Since the early 2000s, India has increased its solar power significantly with the help of various government initiatives and rapid awareness about the importance of renewable energy and sustainability in the society. In order to decrease carbon dioxide emissions, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, with coal being the primary source of electricity for the nation at present, bolster employment, economy and make India energy independent by making self-reliant on renewable energy, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was formed in 1982 to look after the country's activities to promote these goals. These collaborative efforts, along with global cooperation with the help of International Solar Alliance (ISA) since 2015 for promoting solar energy worldwide while also taking care of India, have made India one of the world's fastest adopters of solar power, making it the third-largest producer of solar power globally as of 2025, after China and the United States.[1]

Due to the cost-effectiveness of solar energy as compared to other energies like wind and hydropower, installation has propelled up than ever before. With these strongly determined initiatives, India has also become the home of some of the world's largest solar parks, including the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan, India's largest and the world's 11th-largest as of 2025, generating 2,245 MW of solar power. India's solar power installed capacity was 105.65 GWAC as of 31 March 2025.[2] The use of solar power is also necessary for India to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070, by achieving 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, of which at least around 250 GW will be generated by solar power. These are the prerequisites for the nation to reduce carbon emissions by 30-35% as part of the Paris Agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, both by 2030.

With the provision of allowing 100% foreign direct investment in renewable energy, during 2010–19, the foreign capital invested in India on solar power projects was nearly US$20.7 billion, one of the world's highest invested in a single nation so far.[3] In FY2023-24, India received US$3.76 billion foreign capital, and is executing 40 GW tenders for solar and hybrid projects.[4] India has established nearly 70 solar parks to make land available to the promoters of solar plants.[5] The Gujarat Hybrid Renewable Energy Park, being built near Khavda in the Rann of Kutch desert in Gujarat, will generate 30 GWAC power from both solar panels and wind turbines. It will become the world's largest hybrid renewable energy park spread over an area of 72,600 hectares (726 km2) of wasteland in the desert. As of 2025, the plant has completed to generate around 3 GW of power, and the remaining will be fully completed by December 2026.[6][7]

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), proposed by India as a founder member, is headquartered in India. India has also put forward the concept of "One Sun One World One Grid" and "World Solar Bank" to harness abundant solar power on a global scale.[8][9]

  1. ^ "Report - Global Electricity Report 2024 (page 132)". EMBER. 7 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ach was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ India Exim Bank (January 2022). "Indian Solar Sector – Fostering Growth and Sustainable Development (Refer to Table 13)". Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Government to Bid Out 50 GW of Solar, Wind, and RTC Projects in FY24". Mercom India. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  5. ^ "List of solar parks in India". mnre.gov.in (MS Word Document). Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Bigger than Singapore, Bahrain! World's biggest, hybrid renewable energy park in Gujarat to attract huge investment!". The Financial Express. 16 December 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Gujarat to get India's largest renewable energy generation park". ETEnergyworld.com. 14 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  8. ^ Tayal, Manu (27 May 2020). "MNRE Invites Proposals to Develop Institutional Framework for 'One Sun One World One Grid' Implementation". Saur Energy. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  9. ^ "India Set To Propose World Solar Bank & Mobilize $50 Billion In Solar Funding". Clean Technica. 26 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
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