India achieves record 31.25 GW non-fossil power addition in FY26: Pralhad Joshi

The non-fossil capacity addition has reached a total of 31.25 GW in the current financial year, with 24.28 GW of solar, said Pralhad Joshi, Minister of New and Renewable Energy of India, on Saturday, while showcasing the country's clean energy growth.

As part of the Global Energy Leaders' Summit 2025 held in Puri, the Minister declared a model of 1.5 lakhs rooftop solar ULA for Odisha, which aims to develop and empower around 7-8 lakhs people in the entire state.

The minister said the world took 70 years to get to 1 TW of renewable energy capacity in 2022 but then reached 2 TW by 2024, thereby adding the second terawatt in just two years.

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India is a significant factor in this huge global growth of renewable energy

In the last 11 years, the solar capacity of the country increased from 2.8 GW to approximately 130 GW, which is more than 4,500 per cent rise. Just between 2022 and 2024, India alone accounted for 46 GW in solar global additions, making it the third-largest contributor.

The Minister also mentioned that India possesses the fifth-largest coal reserves in the world and is the second-largest coal consumer.

However, he assured that India, even with such resources, is gradually and steadily transitioning from coal to renewable energy as the change in the energy mix is getting faster.

He pointed out that with global mechanisms already influencing the competitiveness of the industry, India's transition to renewable energy has become a matter of urgency and has thus become strategically important.

While announcing major new initiatives for Odisha, the Minister spoke of the approval of a consumer-owned Utility-Led Aggregation (ULA) model under PM Surya Ghar for installing 1.5 lakh rooftop solar systems of 1 kW each in the State.

This initiative will cater to around 7-8 lakh people, especially those belonging to economically weaker households in Odisha.

The Minister mentioned that Odisha was already a great example of clean energy getting adopted very widely. The State's total installed power capacity now has clean energy comprising of over 34% share which is quite a big portion owing to the installed renewable capacity of over 3.1 GW.

A total of 1.6 lakh households are there in the PM Surya Ghar Yojana who have applied for the installation of Rooftop Solar; there are more than 23,000 installations done and likewise more than 19,200 families who have received the subsidy amount of over Rs 147 crores directly credited into their bank accounts.

Joshi pointed that the overall ecosystem created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the attributes like ease of doing business, investor confidence, infrastructure, demand-driven schemes and strong Centre–State cooperation; has led to the expanse of renewable energy in India.

The Minister expressed his opinion that the next few years would be ruled by Odisha stating the strong leadership by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and the people of the State who have made great strides in the field of renewable energy and green technology.