India’s renewable energy sector is no longer defined by isolated developments in the solar or wind space. The stakeholders in the sector are exploring myriad technologies, market and supply chain strategies, and evolving business models to achieve the energy transition. Reflecting this momentum, the April 2026 issue of Renewable Watch brings together a diverse set of themes that highlight the renewable energy landscape’s growing opportunities and challenges.
The complexity of the energy transition and the need for integrated planning can be best highlighted in Delhi’s experience with waste-to-energy (WtE) development. The aim is not just energy generation, but also the management of legacy waste at the landfills and air pollution that arises from open burning of waste and fires at the landfills. The issue’s cover story delves deeper into this topic, and highlights a few insights shared at our recent conference on Solid Waste Management and WtE, held in March 2026.
The Trends and Development section comprises stories on the new small hydro power development scheme, green ammonia and methanol standards, and the Central Electricity Authority’s national adequacy and transmission plan for integrating renewables. All are positive developments in their respective segments: capital subsidy for small hydro projects to unlock potential in remote and hilly areas, clear standards in the green hydrogen and derivative space to align with global markets, and long-term planning for generation and transmission to streamline plans for stakeholders.
The expansion of domestic manufacturing remains central to India’s energy transition, in a bid to ensure energy independence. In the Spotlight section, we explore the rapid scaling of India’s manufacturing ecosystem for solar, wind and storage technologies, reflecting the country’s ambition to build resilient supply chains alongside generation capacity. Guest perspectives in this section discuss the policy initiatives, challenges faced by manufacturers, and the need for stronger academia-industry collaboration to sustain innovation. Manufacturers have indeed expanded their capacity quickly, but concerns of overcapacity remain. We discuss this in our Up and Coming section in an interview with a new entrant in the solar manufacturing space. Further, the Finance section story on the post-IPO performance of companies listed in 2025 (which includes several manufacturers) analyses how most companies could not sustain their upward momentum after being listed and are now trading well below their listing price.
This issue also captures the sector’s increasing focus on extracting more value from existing renewable projects through efficient operations and maintenance (O&M). We cover the key insights on the growing application of AI and digitalisationin the O&M and forecasting and scheduling space, discussed during the second edition of our AI in Renewables conference, held in March 2026. AI is also being used by stakeholders in the project development stage. The forum discusses the pros and cons of this application of AI.
Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited’s Dr Rohit Gupta writes on the need for BESS to ensure a successful energy transition, covering applications, business models, policy initiatives, tariff trends, challenges and the way forward. As a forum for diverse opinions, the Perspective section also includes a guest article on the social and environmental costs of renewables in the form of land conflicts and ecological degradation, and how stakeholders should ensure these do not turn into faultlines as the country expands its renewable energy capacity.
Apart from Delhi and Rajasthan, the issue also provides a glimpse of the renewable deployment trends in two other states at different stages of their energy transition. We have covered WBPDCL in the Company section, a utility diversifying its generation portfolio – a necessity for West Bengal, which is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Meanwhile, renewables dominate the power mix in Karnataka, covered in State Focus. We outline how different policy moves and incentives had an impact on annual capacity additions in the state.
Taken together, the stories in this issue demonstrate that India’s renewable energy transition is expanding on multiple fronts. This diversity of developments shows that the sector is indeed maturing.
