Key facts
- India has curtailed nearly 11 terawatt-hours of solar generation in the past 15 months.
- This curtailment occurred despite a surge in power demand driven by extreme heat.
- The primary reasons cited are insufficient transmission capacity, grid inflexibility, and lack of storage.
- Coal power plants struggle to reduce output quickly, leading to renewable energy being switched off.
- India aims to reach 500 gigawatts of clean electricity capacity by 2030.
India is facing a significant challenge in its energy transition, with a substantial amount of solar power being curtailed despite surging demand. In the last 15 months, nearly 11 terawatt-hours of solar generation went unused, enough to power approximately 10 million homes. This situation arises as extreme heat drives up demand for electricity for cooling and agricultural purposes, while the country's grid struggles to accommodate the available clean energy.
Experts point to insufficient transmission lines, limited battery storage capacity, and the technical difficulty of rapidly shifting between fossil fuels and renewables as the primary hurdles. The inflexibility of coal power plants, which still generate most of India's electricity, makes it hard for them to reduce output when solar generation peaks in the afternoon. This leads to renewable energy providers being ordered to limit their output, resulting in financial losses for developers.
The concentration of renewable energy capacity in western India, particularly in Gujarat and Rajasthan, further exacerbates the issue by congesting transmission corridors. Building new power lines is a lengthy process, with India achieving only about 80% of its transmission construction targets over the past five years. Without adequate storage solutions, there is a risk that India will continue to rely on coal even when cheaper renewable power is available.
India has set ambitious goals for clean energy, aiming for 500 gigawatts of capacity by 2030 and expecting nearly 70% of its installed power capacity to come from nonfossil sources by 2036. Studies suggest that integrating batteries with renewable power can provide reliable electricity at a cost lower than new coal-fired power plants, highlighting the importance of storage development.