Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that India's economic growth remains strong despite the ongoing crisis in West Asia, and that the country is set to add about 500 GW of renewable energy capacity over the next 10-11 years, a scale-up he tied to its energy security. Addressing the inaugural session of the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit & Expo 2026, he said non-fossil fuel capacity has already crossed 300 GW, and he expressed confidence that the 500 GW renewable energy target would be met by 2030.
He said roughly 500 GW of capacity would be added over the coming decade, describing the goal as "a tough call" and adding: "we have to do it". The country's non-fossil capacity, he noted, is already above 300 GW.
The Prime Minister argued that had India not built renewable capacity over the past ten years, its energy crisis could have been worse than elsewhere. He said the West Asia crisis had cut energy supplies around the world earlier this year and caused problems for many countries. Growth at home, he said, has stayed high through that period.
Modi urged investors to put money into India, saying the country offers large opportunities in renewable energy because it provides political and policy stability. Investment opportunities worth more than Rs 20 lakh crore are expected to emerge in the sector by the end of the decade, he said. India, he added, already ranks among the top three countries in solar and renewable energy.
He said solar power should reach government buildings, schools, colleges, hospitals and street-lighting systems, and pressed the case for an indigenous storage solution along with new battery storage capacity. The address ranged over generation targets, storage, green hydrogen and transmission.
On green hydrogen, Modi said India is progressing rapidly towards a big leap and has set a target of 50 lakh tonnes of annual production capacity under the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
He also highlighted the Green Energy Corridor, the inter-state transmission lines that will help evacuate power from the renewable capacity coming up. A Rs 2 lakh crore outlay has been provided for the corridor's second phase, he said.
More than 44,000 government buildings have already been connected to solar energy, the Prime Minister said, saving roughly Rs 700 crore a year. Clean power, he said, is where the future of energy security lies.
(With inputs from media reports)