India’s renewable energy sector has achieved its highest-ever capacity enhancement in the recently concluded financial year (FY) 2024-25, adding an unprecedented 25 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity—a nearly 35% increase over the previous year’s 18.57 GW. Additionally, the 1% bio-CNG blending mandate with piped natural gas (PNG) has been implemented, aimed at increasing bio-CNG utilisation and strengthening the government’s energy self-reliance initiatives.The solar power sector led the growth in renewable energy with capacity additions rising 38% from 15 GW in FY 2023-24 to nearly 21 GW in FY 2024-25, which helped India cross 100 GW of installed solar capacity in the last FY.
Solar module manufacturing capacity nearly doubled from 38 GW in March 2024 to 74 GW in March 2025, while solar PV cell manufacturing capacity tripled from 9 GW to 25 GW.
While India’s first ingot-wafer manufacturing facility with 2 GW capacity commenced production in FY 2024-25, the Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi added that investments worth Rs. 41,000 crore were made under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for High-Efficiency Solar PV Modules which generated direct employment for over 11,650 people.For green hydrogen, incentives worth Rs. 2,220 crores were awarded for 1,500 MW per annum of electrolyser manufacturing, while an additional ₹2,239 crore was allocated for 4.5 lakh tons-per-annum (TPA) of Green Hydrogen production. Under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, seven pilot projects were funded with Rs. 454 crore for decarbonizing the steel sector.Under the PM KUSUM Scheme Component B, 4.4 lakh pumps were installed in FY 2024-25, an increase of 4.2 times was noted over the previous FY.In Component C, 2.6 lakh pumps were solarized, which was 25 times more than in FY 2023-24, which has taken the total number of solar pumps installed/solarized under the scheme to over 10 lakh. Financial expenditure under the PM KUSUM scheme also surged to Rs. 2,680 crores, 268% more from the previous FY.(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)First Published: Apr 2, 2025 11:32 PM IST
