India’s energy transition to be driven by storage, transmission capacity, nuclear power

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected].NEW DELHI: India’s energy transition has come a long way, with 50% of the country’s electricity generation capacity already coming from non-fossil sources led by solar and wind.

However, the high capacity of clean energy installations doesn’t translate into high energy output, given that solar and wind are erratic power sources, resulting in a low capacity utilization factor.The focus of policymakers and the industry is now set to shift towards building energy storage capacity and diversifying into more stable non-fossil sources such as nuclear power. This shift in policy and regulatory aspects and in terms of project implementation is expected to start in 2026, industry stakeholders said.The year 2025 has been eventful in the renewable power and energy transition space.

At this level of non-fossil capacity, some pertinent and persistent challenges have emerged, ranging from the piling up of unsigned power purchase agreements to forced curtailment of renewable power generation amid a lag of transmission capacity.On the legislative front, the government has said the nuclear power sector will be opened to private companies after amending the current laws. This is aimed at achieving 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047.Srivatsan Iyer, chief executive officer (CEO) of Hero Future Energies, said integrating renewable energy capacity, both installed and upcoming, to the national power grid should be among the key focus areas.“The challenge is no longer just about adding