India Installed Renewable Energy Capacity

About India’s Installed Renewable Energy Capacity

Installed renewable energy capacity measures the rated generating capability of renewable power assets, not the electricity they produce. IndiaGraphs presents the total alongside technology-level series for solar, wind, small hydro, biomass cogeneration and waste-to-energy systems.

Datasets available on this page

IndiaGraphs provides 8 datasets: Total Renewable Energy, Wind Power, Solar Power, Small Hydro Power, Biomass (Bagasse) Cogeneration, Biomass (Non-bagasse) Cogeneration, Waste to Energy, Waste to Energy (Off-grid). Use the dataset tabs above to examine each measure separately.

Understanding the eight datasets

The available series are Total Renewable Energy, Wind Power, Solar Power, Small Hydro Power, Biomass (Bagasse) Cogeneration, Biomass (Non-bagasse) Cogeneration, Waste to Energy and Waste to Energy (Off-grid). Each describes a different part of the installed-capacity picture.

The off-grid waste-to-energy category deserves particular care: whether it is included in the published total depends on the source's definition. Do not add all component series to the total without first checking the official coverage.

Capacity is not generation

One megawatt of solar capacity and one megawatt of wind capacity are equal as rated power, but they need not produce the same annual electricity. Actual output depends on resource availability, equipment performance, curtailment and operating conditions.

Installed capacity also does not establish how much fossil-fuel generation has been displaced. Electricity generation and grid-dispatch data are needed for that assessment.

Reading technology shares

Solar and wind are variable renewable technologies; biomass and waste-to-energy facilities may have different operating profiles. Small hydro is also distinct from large hydro in many official capacity classifications.

When comparing shares across years, check whether the total and its component categories have been defined consistently. Reclassification or newly included technologies can produce a break in the series.

What the chart can support

The series can show how the composition of India's renewable power capacity has evolved and which technologies account for installed additions. It cannot, on its own, quantify electricity supplied, storage needs, project returns or grid reliability.

For investment analysis, pair installed capacity with generation, plant load or capacity factors, project commissioning dates and transmission availability.

Data interpretation and downloads

The chart and available downloads support historical comparison, provided the observations use consistent units, reporting periods and definitions. The dataset mapping identifies the measures but does not provide their underlying values; no numerical trend or record high is asserted here.