India’s renewable energy sector is entering a phase in which plant performance matters as much as plant commissioning. As of February 28, 2026, the country had 143.6 GW of solar capacity, 55.13 GW of wind capacity, 51.17 GW of large-hydro capacity and 5.17 GW of small-hydro capacity, according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. With the renewable base now large, geographically dispersed and increasingly integrated with storage and flexible grid operations, operations and maintenance (O&M) has become a more strategic function. The shift is visible across technologies, but the operating triggers are different in each case.
Solar plants are grappling with soiling, water use, inverter reliability and ageing balance-of-system equipment. Wind farms are dealing with blade damage, internal grid faults, component ageing and the need for faster diagnostics across remote sites. Hydro assets, both small and large, face sedimentation, electromechanical wear, dam safety obligations and refurbishment requirements over very long asset lives. As a result, O&M in renewable energy is becoming more technology-specific, more data-driven and more closely tied to project economics.
O&M in solar plants
For solar projects, the basic challenge remains straightforward. Even when generation assets are mechanically simpler than conventional power plants, output is highly sensitive to small operational inefficiencies. Dust accumulation, vegetation growth, hotspot formation, string outages, inverter faults, cable degradation and transformer issues can steadily erode yields if they are not detected early. These risks matter more now because India’s solar capacity addition has accelerated sharply, with 37.96 GW added in the first 11 months of 2025-26 alone. The scale of the installed fleet means that even modest underperformance at plant level can translate into large generation losses at the portfolio level.
The O&M response in solar is, therefore, moving from routine preventive maintenance to continuous performance surveillance. Developers are investing more in SCADA-based monitoring, string-level diagnostics, inverter health assessment, thermographic inspections and predictive alarms. For instance, according to Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited’s 2024-25 annual report, virtual string monitoring, drone-based module surveys and degradation analysis are being adopted, along with reactive power compensation and a central control room for renewable assets.
One of the clearest areas of change is panel cleaning. In India’s major solar states, especially Rajasthan and Gujarat, soiling losses remain a persistent O&M issue, but conventional water-intensive cleaning is increasingly under pressure because of water scarcity and cost. This is pushing the sector towards robotic and dry-cleaning systems.
According to ReNew’s 2024 CDP, robotic cleaning has helped save 358,746 cubic metres of water in 2023-24. However, later sustainability disclosures indicate an even higher level of water savings and associate digitalisation and automation with lower downtime and improved productivity across assets. What is changing, therefore, is not just the toolkit but also the objective of O&M.
Earlier, solar O&M was often framed around keeping the plant functional. Now it is increasingly about preserving generation yield, reducing water intensity, lowering manual intervention and improving predictability of output over the full asset life. The spread of robotic cleaning orders, drone inspection contracts and centralised monitoring platforms indicates that utility-scale solar O&M is becoming more automated and less site-bound than before.
O&M in wind plants
For wind projects, the challenges are about moving components, difficult access, weather exposure and internal electrical reliability. Blade defects, gearbox and generator stresses, yaw and pitch system faults, insulation weakness and evacuation system issues can all affect turbine availability. These problems are compounded by the fact that many wind sites are spread over large areas or are located in terrain where inspection and repair are not always easy.
With India’s cumulative wind capacity at 55.13 GW as of the end of February 2026 and with new additions regaining momentum, the cost of reactive maintenance is rising. The O&M fix in wind is increasingly based on predictive diagnostics and precision inspection. Instead of relying heavily on manual inspection cycles, operators are using SCADA data, fault pattern analysis, condition monitoring systems and drones to identify blade and equipment issues earlier. This represents a significant change in the way wind O&M is being approached.
The previous model was heavily dependent on periodic service routines and OEM-led maintenance contracts. The emerging model is more analytical and operator-driven. Operators are trying to reduce downtime by linking inspection, failure prediction and spares management more tightly. They are also building greater visibility across fleets rather than managing each site in isolation. As per Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy’s 2024-25 annual report, advances are being made towards smart and remote O&M, predictive maintenance, SCADA upgrades and analytics-led asset supervision.
O&M in hydropower plants
Large hydropower plants can run for decades, but this longevity depends on the sustained upkeep of turbines, generators, gates, control systems, civil structures and dam safety systems. Small hydro projects, meanwhile, are often exposed to terrain-related access constraints, high silt loads, seasonal flow variability and local manpower limitations. India has about 51.17 GW of large-hydro capacity and 5.17 GW of small-hydro capacity as of February 2026.
The operational challenge in hydro is less about day-to-day plant cleaning and more about condition management over long periods. Sedimentation and abrasion affect hydraulic components. Electromechanical systems require periodic overhauls and refurbishment. Dam instrumentation, spillway gates, control systems and underwater structures all need regular inspection and maintenance. In older stations, the central issue is often renovation and modernisation rather than routine servicing alone. As per disclosures by NHPC Limited, the use of DCS and SCADA systems for better operation, monitoring and control is being adopted, along with renovation and modernisation for life extension.
Small-hydro projects, typically need stronger preventive maintenance discipline, local workforce capability, spare parts planning and remote diagnostics because site access can be difficult and outage response times can be longer. In March 2026, the union cabinet approved a Rs 25.85 billion small-hydro power scheme for 2026-31 aimed at supporting around 1.5 GW of projects, particularly in the hilly and north-eastern states. This kind of policy support could strengthen not only project development but also the supporting O&M ecosystem required for remote and terrain-sensitive hydro assets.
As per SJVN Limited’s disclosures, they have gone through a number of innovations across construction O&M including the tandem operation of the Nathpa Jhakri hydropower station and Rampur hydropower station. This includes the hard coating of underwater turbine parts, using tungsten carbide powder with an HVOF (high-velocity oxygen fuel) technique that was developed indigenously at the Nathpa Jhakri hard coating workshop. Such measures point to the growing importance of equipment protection, efficiency preservation and plant-specific technical problem-solving in hydro O&M. Besides, SJVN’s use of cable anchors for hill slope stabilisation and the DRESS methodology to address poor ground conditions underlines that O&M in hydro is closely tied not only to electromechanical upkeep, but also to terrain and long-term asset integrity.
The way forward
To conclude, O&M is moving away from isolated, task-based maintenance and towards integrated performance management. Central control rooms, asset analytics, remote supervision, predictive maintenance and digital work order systems are becoming more important because renewable portfolios are now too large and too dispersed to be managed only through site-level routines. Some developers are building in-house operating capability, while others are using specialist service providers for diagnostics, robotic cleaning, inspections and digital monitoring. The result is a more segmented and technically differentiated O&M market. Solar, wind and hydro are no longer being serviced under a single maintenance logic. Each is developing its own challenge-response framework, even as digital tools cut across them all. As India’s installed renewable base keeps expanding, the plants that perform best will not necessarily be those built fastest, but those managed most intelligently over time. This is what is changing in O&M across renewable energy plants today.
