India must shift its renewable energy push beyond sheer capacity addition and focus sharply on grid integration and technology to ensure smoother adoption, according to the country's top new and renewable energy mandarin.

 

Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, was speaking at a Leadership Spotlight Session during India Energy Week 2026 in Goa.

 

Addressing the session The Solar and Wind Opportunity: Realising the Dual Potential of Scaling India’s Renewables Outlook, Sarangi said India’s non-fossil fuel capacity has already touched about 267 GW and is on track to cross 600 GW by FY 2030. 

 

He underlined that the next wave of policy will prioritise grid integration, distributed renewable energy management and strengthening domestic manufacturing across solar and wind value chains to cut import dependence.

 

Industry leaders echoed the need for a more mature and integrated approach. 

 

Gyanesh Chaudhary, Chairman and Managing Director of Vikram Solar, said India’s early bet on renewable energy created both rapid growth and hard lessons. While the initial scale-up exposed weaknesses in domestic manufacturing and supply chains, he noted that consistent policy direction and market creation have helped position India among the world’s leading renewable energy deployers.

 

Chaudhary said the next phase of growth will demand deeper vertical integration, access to advanced technologies and stronger engagement with global markets if India is to realise its ambition of becoming a long-term renewable manufacturing hub.

 

Taking a global policy view, Erik Solheim, President of the International Advisory Board at GH2 India, pointed out that solar power is now among the cheapest energy sources worldwide, turning the clean energy transition into a compelling economic choice as much as an environmental imperative.

 

Aditya Pyasi, CEO of the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association, highlighted the transformation of India’s wind sector from early deployment to sophisticated manufacturing and global integration. 

 

He said Indian manufacturers are increasingly serving both domestic and international markets, and stressed that future growth will hinge on policy stability, component-level indigenisation and sustained focus on jobs and manufacturing amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.