PIB TrackerIndia third in global renewable energy capacity
India has overtaken Brazil to rank third worldwide in installed renewable energy capacity, and has crossed the half-way mark on non-fossil power five years ahead of schedule.
What happened
- The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced that India now ranks third in the world in renewable energy installed capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency's (IRENA) Renewable Energy Statistics 2026, which uses data as on December 2025.
- India has moved ahead of Brazil in the ranking; China and the United States remain first and second.
- The Minister stated that India's total non-fossil installed capacity reached 283.46 GW as on 31 March 2026 — made up of 274.68 GW of renewable energy plus 8.78 GW of nuclear.
- India had already reached 50% of its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources in June 2025 — five years before the 2030 deadline it set under its climate pledge.
- The announcement also flagged the highest-ever annual non-fossil capacity addition of 55.29 GW in 2025-26, alongside progress on green hydrogen, small hydro and solar manufacturing.
Background & context
IRENA is the inter-governmental agency that tracks the deployment of renewable energy worldwide and publishes the most widely-cited global capacity dataset each year. Founded in 2009 with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, it counts the bulk of the world's states as members and India is a founding member. Its annual Renewable Energy Statistics volume is the reference table against which countries benchmark their clean-power standing, which is why a movement in this ranking carries weight beyond a domestic press note.
The figure being celebrated sits inside a long policy lineage. At the 26th UN climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow in 2021, the Prime Minister announced the "Panchamrit" set of commitments, the headline among them being a target of 500 GW of non-fossil installed capacity by 2030 and meeting 50% of energy requirements from renewables. These pledges were folded into India's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to the UN climate convention in 2022, which formally commits India to about 50% cumulative electric-power installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030. Reaching that 50% mark in mid-2025 is therefore the early delivery of a treaty-linked promise, not merely a domestic milestone.
"Non-fossil" is a deliberately broader basket than "renewable energy". It bundles the renewables — solar, wind, biomass, small hydro and large hydro — together with nuclear power, which is low-carbon but not renewable. The IRENA ranking that gives India third place counts renewable capacity, while the 283.46 GW headline India quotes for its 50% claim is the wider non-fossil number that adds nuclear on top. Keeping the two baskets distinct is the single most common point of confusion on this topic.
For Prelims
- Ranking source: IRENA Renewable Energy Statistics 2026 (data as on December 2025). India is 3rd in RE installed capacity, having surpassed Brazil; China 1st, USA 2nd.
- Non-fossil capacity (31.03.2026): 283.46 GW total = 274.68 GW renewables + 8.78 GW nuclear.
- RE mix: Solar 150.26 GW · Wind 56.09 GW · Bio-power 11.75 GW · Small Hydro 5.17 GW · Large Hydro 51.41 GW. Solar is by far the largest single component.
- 50% milestone: India reached 50% non-fossil installed capacity in June 2025 — five years ahead of its 2030 NDC target.
- 2030 target: 500 GW of non-fossil installed capacity (the COP26 / "Panchamrit" pledge of 2021).
- Wind standing: India ranks 4th globally in installed wind capacity.
- Record addition: non-fossil capacity addition in 2025-26 was 55.29 GW — the highest ever in a single year.
- Nodal ministry: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the central nodal ministry for all non-conventional/renewable energy in India.
- Supporting tax measure: GST on renewable energy devices was cut from 12% to 5% with effect from 22 September 2025, lowering the capital cost of clean-power equipment.
The IRENA top-five table (RE installed capacity, GW) — carry the full set for "how many / match the pairs":
| Rank | Country | RE capacity (GW) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 2258.02 |
| 2 | United States | 467.92 |
| 3 | India | 250.52 |
| 4 | Brazil | 228.20 |
| 5 | Germany | 199.92 |
The wider MNRE story this release carried
The same statement bundled several other clean-energy markers an aspirant should be able to place. The National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) — Cabinet-approved in 2023 under MNRE, with a total outlay of ₹19,744 crore up to 2029-30 — targets 5 million tonnes per annum (MMT/annum) of green hydrogen production by 2030, an associated 125 GW of renewable capacity addition, over 6 lakh jobs and the avoidance of nearly 50 MMT of CO₂ a year. The mission is anchoring Green Hydrogen Hubs at Kandla, Paradip and Tuticorin and four Hydrogen Valley Innovation Clusters. Green hydrogen is "green" precisely because it is made by electrolysing water using renewable electricity, distinguishing it from "grey" hydrogen made from natural gas.
The Cabinet also approved a new Small Hydro Power (SHP) Development Scheme running from FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31 with an outlay of ₹2,584.60 crore, aiming at roughly 1,500 MW of small hydro from projects of 1–25 MW each, with a special focus on hilly and North-Eastern states. Small hydro is counted within the renewable basket above (the 5.17 GW small-hydro line) and is valued because it avoids the large land acquisition, deforestation and displacement associated with big dams. On the research side, the release noted silicon-tandem solar cell efficiency reaching 30% and perovskite cells 26% at the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education at IIT Bombay, a sodium-ion battery effort at IIT Roorkee, and a National Policy on Geothermal Energy issued in September 2025.
Why it matters
The headline answers a recurring exam and policy question: how fast is India actually decarbonising its power system? Crossing 50% non-fossil installed capacity five years early, and adding a record 55.29 GW of non-fossil capacity in a single year, shows that the deployment curve is steepening rather than flattening. It strengthens India's negotiating position at climate conferences, where the credibility of a developing economy's pledges rests on demonstrable delivery, and it lets India argue for climate finance and technology on the back of a track record rather than a promise.
The problem the data quietly frames is the gap between capacity and generation. Solar and wind have lower capacity factors and are intermittent, so a 50% share of installed capacity translates into a smaller share of units actually supplied; coal still carries the bulk of round-the-clock demand. Closing that gap is what makes energy storage — the sodium-ion and battery work flagged here — and firm clean power such as nuclear, large hydro and green-hydrogen-based balancing the next frontier. The 500 GW non-fossil target by 2030 is therefore as much a grid-integration and storage challenge as a capacity-addition one.