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In a sign of booming investor confidence in India’s clean energy space, the government has received long-term investment commitments of around $400 billion from companies operating in the renewable energy sector.
“We have received commitment in the CEO roundtable for $400 billion as long-term investment in the sector but I do not want to focus on any specific figure. ₹6-7 lakh crore investment has already come in renewable energy in the past two years, including both domestic and foreign investments, despite the geopolitical disturbances. This is the highest investment achieved in a single sector in this time,” Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi told Business Standard in an interaction at the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo 2026.
He added that the government now plans to bring in an additional ₹21 lakh crore in investment in the sector by the end of 2030. “I am confident this investment will definitely come and it will be sufficient for our capacity addition target (500 Gigawatt by 2030). This investment will include renewable energy, transmission, storage and manufacturing projects,” he said.
Speaking about the Cabinet’s approval of the ₹14,500-crore viability gap funding (VGF) scheme to support the development of 92 gigawatt-hours of grid-scale energy storage capacity over FY27-FY31, Joshi said it would primarily benefit the renewable energy sector, with more pumped hydro projects and battery energy storage systems being added.
He also said that solar cell capacity, which stands at 47 GW today, would increase to 70 GW by December this year and 100 GW by May-June next year. Asserting that the government was also working on ways to support upstream components in the solar value chain, Joshi said ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity, used to make solar cells, had risen to 9 GW at present.
For polysilicon manufacturing, the government is working on a support system such as viability gap funding. “We are also planning for a support system like VGF for polysilicon at an appropriate time and with the kind consent of Prime Minister Modi,” he said. The government is targeting a total non-fossil fuel-based power generation capacity of 800 GW over the next decade.
Speaking about the challenges in power transmission, Joshi said the Centre was talking to state governments about right-of-way and land acquisition-related challenges. He said, “Land has become very costly everywhere in the world and in India as well. This issue has to be addressed.”
He also said that with the Green Energy Corridor Phase-III scheme approved, renewable energy curtailment challenges would ease. The Union Cabinet recently approved the Green Energy Corridor Phase-III scheme to strengthen intra-state transmission systems by creating 51,126 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines to evacuate up to 135 GW of renewable energy.
“While we have not assessed the number of substations in the 51,000 ckm transmission lines, there will be around 50,000-55,000 substations. The existing ones will be strengthened and around 10,000-15,000 new substations will be created,” he said.
Asked whether the recent export controls by China on key solar manufacturing technologies could impact India’s plans, Joshi said India had addressed the challenges whenever they had arisen. He pointed to the growth of the country’s module manufacturing capacity to 172 GW currently, from 2 GW 10 years ago.
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