Harnessing Light, Shaping Futures

If one were to trace the origin of the solar revolution that the world has witnessed in the past few decades, it would have to be the twin oil crises of 1973 and 1979: the first one on account of the Arab-Israel conflict and the consequent oil embargo by Arab nations because of Western support of Israel; and the second because of the Iranian revolution and the cutback of oil output by Iran. While the 1973 oil crisis led to a fourfold rise in oil prices and led to a recession in the US, Japan and Europe, the 1979 crisis led to a doubling of oil prices. It is only after these oil crises that the search for energy-efficient cars and alternative sources of energy began to be developed, not because of an impending climate challenge but to reduce dependence on oil. The US took the lead in solar power and lithium-ion batteries, the Danes in wind power, and the French in nuclear power. Today, China has overtaken other countries in renewable energy and its applications. In this article, we will look at some of the large solar companies in India and China that are taking forward the solar revolution.

Indian Solar Story

The Indian solar story has evolved into a success story over the past decade or so. When the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 by the 21st Conference of the Parties, India had a solar installed capacity of about 5000 MW. It was therefore a bold move when India announced that it would set up an installed capacity of 1,00,000 MW of solar power by 2022. This was a far cry from the time when the Department of Non-Conventional Energy was set up in 1982 in the Government of India, when solar power was to be used for rural street lighting and solar cooking and the year 2010, when the National Solar Mission was set up, which set a target of installed capacity of solar power of 20000 MW by 2022. The formation of the Solar Energy Corporation of India in 2011 also spurred interest in solar power. Interestingly, India reached the number of 60 GW of solar capacity in 2022 and 100 GW in 2025. The total renewable energy installed capacity (solar, wind and hydel) in 2025 was about 220GW.

India’s massive expansion in solar installed capacity was made possible by a combination of government policies, such as Solar Parks and Green Energy Corridors and the entrepreneurial spirit of Indian companies such as ReNew Power, Tata Power, Adani Power and Waaree Industries.

Of these, the story of ReNew Power, founded by Sumant Sinha, is interesting. After his years at Suzlon Energy, Sinha founded ReNew Power to set up renewable energy projects. Luck smiled on ReNew Power when Goldman Sachs made a bet of US$200 million on the company in 2011, soon after it was founded. After securing the finance, the company entered into agreements with distribution companies. Since then, ReNew Power is the only Indian renewable energy company listed on NASDAQ in the USA. Today, ReNew has a total installed capacity of about 8GW and about 14GW if projects in the pipeline are included. This includes a mix of solar and wind power projects spread across states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana. ReNew Power also won the bid for the Government of India’s round-the-clock renewable energy auction of 400 MW in 2020. The bid requirement was to supply 400 MW of zero-carbon power for 80 per cent of any day with a combination of solar, wind, battery storage or hydro projects. The price ReNew quoted was Rs 2.9 per kWh, which was much lower than coal power.

Among the other large renewable players in India are Waaree Industries, which is the largest solar PV module manufacturer and exporter in India, Adani Power with an installed capacity of 14.5 GW and a target of 45GW by 2030 and Tata Power with a renewable capacity of 10.9GW.

We have discussed some Indian renewable energy companies above. However, there are many large companies in the world, such as NextEra Energy and GE Vernova from the USA, Vestas Wind Systems from Denmark and LONGi Energy and Yangtze Power from China. In terms of the installed capacity of renewable energy, China is the leader with an installed capacity of 1828 GW, followed by the US at 428 GW and India and Brazil at about 220 GW each.

Conclusion

Renewable energy is a key component of the fight against global warming and is important for the energy transition away from fossil fuels. In this article, we have looked at the initiatives in India and the impressive progress it has made. India’s progress is important because it can be an example for other countries in Asia and Africa, particularly in solar power. While much has been done, more needs to be achieved in renewable energy if the carbon dioxide emissions have to be flattened and ultimately phased out.