September 28: India is on track to add more than 60 GW of renewable energy capacity in 2026, building on the country’s rapid expansion of clean energy, said Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO, ReNew, while addressing a high-level session at the United Nations General Assembly during New York Climate Week.
Sinha, the only private-sector leader to address the session, highlighted India’s progress in scaling renewable energy and underscored the critical role of businesses in translating national and global climate commitments into action.
He noted that India achieved its Paris Agreement target of having 50% of its energy mix from non-fossil fuel sources in 2025 — five years ahead of its 2030 target. India added around 44 GW of renewable energy capacity in 2025, making it the second-largest annual addition globally, and is expected to surpass that significantly this year.
Distributed renewables bringing the energy transition closer to citizens
Sinha said a significant share of the capacity addition expected in 2026 will come from distributed renewable energy, including nearly 15 GW of rooftop solar and solar pumps.
He highlighted the importance of distributed generation in making the clean-energy transition more tangible for citizens.
“These distributed solar capacity additions essentially touch the common man. So, the common person in India is very deeply involved with the clean energy transition, and they are being impacted on a personal basis by it as well.”
Private sector has mobilised nearly US$300 billion
Sinha highlighted the scale of private-sector investment that has supported India’s clean-energy expansion over the past decade and a half.
According to Sinha, the private sector has mobilised close to US$300 billion in capital over the last 10–15 years to build India’s renewable-energy ecosystem across generation, transmission and increasingly, storage.
He also pointed to the evolution of round-the-clock renewable energy, where wind, solar and storage are integrated to deliver more reliable and firm power.
ReNew has pioneered such solutions in India, combining renewable generation with storage to meet demand during morning and evening peaks and provide firm, base-load-like power at increasingly competitive costs.
Sinha said the ability to integrate renewable generation and storage is fundamentally changing the way renewable power can be delivered to the grid, giving the private sector a growing role in determining not just how much clean energy is generated, but when it is available to consumers.
Government–private sector collaboration has been critical
Sinha attributed India’s rapid progress to a combination of government ambition, policy support and sustained collaboration between the public and private sectors.
He highlighted the government’s role in setting ambitious renewable-energy targets, strengthening the credit profile of power offtakers and developing a national transmission grid capable of integrating increasing volumes of renewable power.
He also pointed to the growing focus on building a domestic clean-energy manufacturing ecosystem, spanning solar, batteries and other clean technologies, which can strengthen India’s energy security while reducing dependence on imports.
“We’ve had very, very deep collaboration between the private sector and the government, which I think has been extremely important in making sure that we’ve been able to collectively work towards achieving this target.”
Next phase of transition will require grids, storage and electrification
With India now having around 300 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity, Sinha said the next phase of the energy transition will require a greater focus on grid management, energy storage and electrification.
As renewable penetration rises, strengthening the grid and deploying storage at scale will be essential to manage the intermittency of renewable generation and ensure reliable power supply.
Sinha also called for greater focus on electrification across sectors, highlighting the COP31 goal of achieving 35% electrification by 2035, alongside the global objective of tripling renewable-energy capacity by 2030.
He stressed that the energy transition must remain inclusive and just, ensuring that the benefits of clean energy reach communities and economies across the world.
India’s experience, Sinha said, demonstrates that rapid economic development and a large-scale clean-energy transition can advance together. The next phase will require continued collaboration between governments and businesses to accelerate investments in grids, storage, manufacturing and energy access.
India’s renewable-energy journey, he said, is now moving from a phase focused primarily on adding generation capacity to one centred on integrating renewables into the wider energy system and making clean power more reliable, accessible and inclusive.