India's Record 2025 Build: 37.9 GW of Solar, and a Deadline That Did Much of the Work

India installed a record 37.9 GW of solar and 6.3 GW of wind in calendar year 2025, according to Ministry of New and Renewable Energy data reported by pv magazine India on 13 January 2026. Solar additions were 54.7 per cent higher than in 2024, and wind additions 85.3 per cent higher. Cumulative renewable capacity, including large hydro, reached 258 GW at the end of December. Solar accounts for about 53 per cent of that total, wind 21 per cent, large hydro 20 per cent, bioenergy 4 per cent and small hydro 2 per cent.

The record year answers some of the doubts raised in 2024 about whether India could step up its annual build towards the pace required for 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030. The solar total breaks down into 28.6 GW of utility-scale capacity, up about 54.6 per cent year on year, 7.9 GW of rooftop solar, up 72 per cent, and 1.35 GW of off-grid and distributed capacity, down 8.8 per cent. The report attributes the surge in utility-scale installations to the commissioning of long-pending tenders awarded by central and state agencies, and to developers accelerating construction ahead of the deadline for the waiver of inter-state transmission charges.

Open access, the route by which commercial and industrial consumers buy power directly from generators, accounted for more than 38 per cent of utility-scale installations. About 60 per cent of the year's 7.9 GW of rooftop solar was installed in the second half, which the report links to the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana programme. The report notes that domestic module and cell manufacturing capacity crossed 200 GW by December 2025. Wind additions of 6.3 GW, up 85 per cent, are the strongest in several years. In July 2025 the government reported non-fossil capacity, including large hydro and nuclear, of 242.78 GW out of a total fleet of 484.82 GW.