Indian clean energy capacity rises to 50% but where's the power coming from?

India Today

18-07-2025

Renewable and clean energy now account for half of India's energy production capacity. Renewables, hydro, and nuclear together accounted for 37 per cent of the installed capacity, while thermal power had a 63 per cent share at the start of 2020.This has obviously improved in the last half decade. But while clean energy now accounts for 50 per cent of the capacity, is the power generated also 50 per cent of the total power?advertisementRenewable energy accounted for 23 per cent of the overall installed capacity in 2020. This rose to 27 per cent in 2022, 31 per cent in 2024, and 38 per cent by July 14 this year, according to the Central Electricity Authority. The shares of hydro and nuclear power have broadly remained unchanged in the last five years.
CAPACITY UPTICK!
The capacity addition of renewable energy rose by 111 per cent from 87.7 GW in July 2020 to 184.6 GW in July 2025. The second-highest growth in capacity addition was realised in nuclear power, which grew by 30 per cent from 6.8 GW to 8.8 GW in these five years. The capacity of hydro energy grew by 8.1 per cent, while that of thermal rose by five per cent.
Thermal energy now accounts for only 50 per cent of overall capacity in India but it accounted for 85 per cent of power generated between April 1 and July 14 this year. In contrast, renewable with an installed capacity share of 38 per cent, accounted for only one per cent of the power produced. Nuclear energy made its space between renewables and thermal by producing four per cent power with only two per cent share in the overall capacity.
NUCLEAR POWER IS KEYNuclear plants are mostly concentrated in the western and southern parts of the country. But that's changing. Union Minister Manohar Lal visited the Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP) in June to review the progress of the nuclear power project. Bihar too may see its first nuclear plant under the country's new Nuclear Energy Mission.Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said in February that the nuclear mission announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 will mark a transformative shift in India's energy landscape and will enable nuclear power to emerge as a major source of energy in India.advertisementThe Union Budget 2025-26 allocated Rs 20,000 crore for the research and development of small modular reactors, targeting at least five indigenously designed operational SMRs by 2033.This is in-line with the country's target of 100 GW nuclear power capacity by 2047. The government aims to expand India's nuclear power capacity from 8.2 GW now to 22.48 GW by 2032.- Ends