{"id":68803,"date":"2026-03-12T18:28:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=68803"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:59:54","slug":"stranded-renewable-power-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-03-2026\/stranded-renewable-power-india","title":{"rendered":"Stranded Renewable Power and Grid Constraints in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Energy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>At the Bharat Climate Forum 2026, energy experts highlighted a critical risk in India\u2019s energy transition that renewable power generation is increasing rapidly, but grid and institutional constraints are preventing its efficient utilisation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s Renewable Energy Sector<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>India&#8217;s total renewable energy capacity <\/strong>reached <strong>253.96 GW<\/strong> in November 2025, representing an increase of over 23% from 205.52 GW in 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Solar installed capacity<\/strong> reached <strong>132.85 GW<\/strong> followed by <strong>Wind<\/strong> at around <strong>53.99 GW.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India\u2019s Global Position:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India ranks<strong> 3rd globally<\/strong> in <strong>solar power<\/strong> installed capacity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India ranks <strong>4th in wind power<\/strong> installed capacity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India ranks<strong> 4th in total renewable energy<\/strong> installed capacity worldwide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The leading states in India for renewable energy capacity are <strong>Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The country aims to achieve <strong>500 GW<\/strong> of non-fossil fuel capacity by<strong> 2030<\/strong> as part of its climate commitments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges in India\u2019s Renewable Energy Transition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Transmission Congestion and Stranded Power:<\/strong> In Rajasthan, around <strong>23 GW<\/strong> of renewable capacity has been commissioned, but grid evacuation capacity is only 18.9 GW, leaving over 4,000 MW of power stranded during peak solar hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unequal Curtailment of Renewable Projects:<\/strong> Renewable projects with <strong>Permanent General Network Access (GNA)<\/strong> continue to transmit power normally while projects with<strong> Temporary GNA (T-GNA)<\/strong> often face complete shutdown during peak hours.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This unequal treatment creates financial losses for developers who invested in projects after obtaining necessary approvals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Under-utilisation of Transmission Infrastructure:<\/strong> High-capacity transmission lines such as <strong>765 kV<\/strong> corridors are designed to evacuate large amounts of electricity (around 6000 MW). In reality, many operate at only <strong>600\u20131000 MW,<\/strong> which is less than <strong>20%<\/strong> of their designed capacity.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These projects involve huge investments of <strong>\u20b94,000\u2013\u20b95,000<\/strong> crore per corridor, and their costs are ultimately borne by electricity consumers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional and Governance Issues: <\/strong>The grid operator <strong>Grid Controller of India Limited<\/strong> focuses mainly on grid stability, while no clear utilisation benchmarks or review mechanisms exist to address persistent underuse of transmission assets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Technical Constraints in Grid Operation:<\/strong> Grid operators cite technical risks such as voltage oscillations and potential grid instability when renewable energy injection increases rapidly.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Technologies such as<strong> STATCOMs, reactive power compensators, and advanced protection systems<\/strong> can help address these issues but are not deployed at sufficient scale.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government Initiatives to Improve Clean Energy Utilisation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Green Energy Corridor (GEC): <\/strong>Aims to strengthen the transmission infrastructure to evacuate renewable energy efficiently from generation points to demand centres.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PM-KUSUM Scheme: <\/strong>Promotes installation of solar pumps and grid-connected solar power plants in rural areas to reduce diesel usage and support farmers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Green Hydrogen Mission:<\/strong> Seeks to promote the production and use of green hydrogen to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in sectors like refining, steel, and fertilisers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: <\/strong>Provides financial incentives for domestic manufacturing of high-efficiency solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and advanced battery storage systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Renewable Energy Hybrid Policy:<\/strong> Encourages setting up of projects that combine solar and wind energy in the same location to increase capacity utilisation and reliability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The mandate of <strong>Grid Controller of India Limited<\/strong> should include both grid stability and optimal utilisation of transmission assets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Curtailment should be distributed proportionately<\/strong> among all generators to ensure fairness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Advanced grid management technologies<\/strong> should be deployed to integrate higher levels of renewable energy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Better coordination is required <\/strong>between planning institutions such as the Central Transmission Utility of India Limited and grid operators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/indias-renewable-transition-caught-between-stranded-power-and-institutional-inertia\/article70708147.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> At the Bharat Climate Forum 2026, energy experts highlighted a critical risk in India\u2019s energy transition that renewable power generation is increasing rapidly, but grid and institutional constraints are preventing its efficient utilisation. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> India\u2019s Renewable Energy Sector <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> India&#8217;s total renewable energy capacity reached 253.96 GW in November 2025, representing an increase of over 23% from 205.52 GW in 2024. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Solar installed capacity reached 132.85 GW followed by Wind at around 53.99 GW. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-03-2026\/stranded-renewable-power-india \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68803"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68808,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68803\/revisions\/68808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}