India to Add 500GW Non-Fossil Energy Capacity in the Next Decade: PM Narendra Modi
The Renewable Energy Expo & Summit officially began on 2 November with over 130 nations and over 400 exhibitors at the event. While the expo has brought a lot of interesting technologies, an important highlight of the event was what India’s Prime Minister has in plan for the next decade.
The RE Expo & Summit is being held for 3 days from 2nd to 5th November and was inaugurated by PM Modi. While inaugurating the event at Bharat Mandapam, Modi said, “Over the coming 10–11 years, our effort will be to add 500 GW of new non-fossil capacity. The target is somewhat difficult, but I have faith in the capabilities of my country. That is why I say, we will do it.”
India recently crossed 300 GW in non-fossil fuel capacity in September 2026 with a target to reach the mark of 500 GW capacity by the year 2030. PM Modi’s statement to add new 500 GW capacity over the next decade brings a lot of new opportunities to India and potential investments with it.
While this new target puts India on a path to a greener future, it also puts India in a strong position in the world of energy security, as stated by PM Modi, “The global crisis has sent a clear message to every country. Energy security is directly linked to economic security. And we all know that the future of energy security lies in clean energy”. While many countries were struggling, India was still in a better position due to its past investments in the sector. “If India had not invested in clean energy and built new systems for it over the past decade, our crisis could have been much more serious than that of the rest of the world,” he added.
Citing the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, Modi added, “In February 2024, we launched the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. Under this scheme, the target is to install rooftop solar panels on one crore homes. In just the past twenty-four to twenty-five months, more than sixty-five lakh homes have joined this campaign. And as our Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi ji just mentioned, every six days, one lakh new homes become part of this solar movement. The impact of this can also be seen in electricity bills. One study shows that electricity bills for these sixty-five lakh households have fallen by nearly 76 percent. There are lakhs of families whose electricity bills have become zero.”
In a recent interaction with the media, Prahlad Joshi, Minister of New and Renewable Energy had mentioned how 21 lakh households out of 65 lakh households under the PM Surya Ghar Mufft Bijli Yojana have already started to receive zero electricity bills. With massive subsidy under the scheme, many states have come up with additional solar schemes for the residents, making solar energy more accessible to common Indian households. Thus, fast-tracking the growth of India’s non-solar energy generation capacity.
Modi further added that India has witnessed a massive leap to 200 GW of solar capacity from just 3 GW in the past decade, emphasising India’s fast growth curve. He later addressed the global investors and said, “Over the past decade, more than ₹15 lakh crore, that is, 164 billion dollars, has been invested in the renewable energy sector. From the RE-INVEST Summit of 2024 until today, within just two years, investments worth nearly ₹6 lakh crore, that is, more than 63 billion dollars, have come into this sector. It is estimated that by the end of this decade, investment opportunities worth more than ₹20 lakh crore, approximately 220 billion dollars, will be created in this sector.”
The RE Expo & Summit is being held simultaneously with the ninth session of the International Solar Alliance Assembly and the fourth International Conference on Green Hydrogen, opening enormous investment opportunities for nations and global investors. As the coming decade is very critical for the world, these summits are becoming even more important to accelerate our climate goals and secure a cleaner and greener future.
Sources: PM India, PIB, News On Air
