Nov 10, 2025
The technologies driving India's energy transition
By Subhasish Mukerjee
In our first post about India’s energy transition, we looked at the challenge India faces as it tries to meet its energy independence and net zero targets of 2047and 2070 respectively, while also fulfilling ambitious economic growth and industrialisation goals.
In this second post we look at the energy technologies that will form part of solving this complex challenge; how their attributes could prove complementary and position India as a global leader in addressing climate change. We will deep dive into the potential for renewable energy generation through wind and solar, the scale-up of large nuclear and small modular reactors (SMR) technology, the role of fuel cells and how decarbonisation could be achieved through the use of hydrogen.
India is planning a complete transformation within its transition to clean energy. Under its "Viksit Bharat" (Developed India) vision, it plans a major push towards renewable energy, nuclear power, and other green technologies. This will see an additional 500GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 to deliver 50% of its energy requirements from renewables and a 45% reduction in India’s GDP emissions intensity, when compared to 2005 levels1.
Technologies to deliver India’s green ambition
In sun-blessed India, most regions have between 300 to 330 sunny days per year. Solar power is therefore logically a key component in the Indian Government’s plans. The country had over 100GW of solar installed capacity as of 20252 and is targeting 300GW solar capacity3 by 2030 as part of its 500GW renewables target.
India already has the world's fourth-largest wind power capacity4 and continues to add significant wind energy generation. Of its 2030 target of 500GW of renewable capacity, wind is expected to provide 140GW5. To reach these goals, India is focusing on expanding its wind programme across the country while also launching offshore projects. As with solar, India is highly supportive of developing domestic manufacturing for wind turbines with Suzlon Energy, Inox Wind, and Siemens Gamesa among others already manufacturing within the country.
To ensure the country has a dependable baseload for the national grid, India has set a nuclear energy target of 100GW of capacity by 2047, up from its current 8.2GW. To reach this goal, the country's roadmap includes plans to accelerate construction, encourage private sector investment and develop SMRs for remote and off-grid areas.
However, the intermittency of renewables and caution over sudden changes to nuclear output, raise a major question around how India will balance a future grid. As daily fluctuations lead to surges in domestic demand at the start and end of the day, other technologies are needed to replace India’s current 20GW capacity of gas peaker plants.
Energy storage is set to be a major part of the balancing mix, with India planning to deploy 74 GW of storage capacity by 2032. A plethora of technologies are being looked at to provide the balancing power needed for India’s new grid, including pumped-hydro storage in suitable regions, battery energy storage systems, compressed air, thermal and hydrogen as a storage medium.
One technology that could provide a viable solution to balancing the grid is solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), as they can use the existing natural gas that is being supplied to the gas plants today but provide clean power to the grid in future. This is possible as the fuel cells emit a highly concentrated stream of CO2 that enables efficient carbon capture, which is not possible with the far more dilute CO2 streams emitted by gas turbines that make carbon capture uneconomic.
As well as supporting grid stability, SOFC systems are also expected to play a major role for power intensive facilities that would otherwise cause brownouts and blackouts such as industrial complexes and data centres. The SOFC systems can be deployed as self-sufficient power sources, running on natural gas initially and in the future on hydrogen and alternative fuels, to create clean microgrids at these facilities.
This flexible and reliable technology could also align with India’s determination to manufacture its energy technology locally in addition to its self-reliance goals. Ceres offers access to its technology under licence and is already working with a number of global manufacturing partners who are creating localised manufacturing with global ambition.
India’s industrial decarbonisation and self-reliance
India is also pledged to reduce the use of fossil fuels in industry in sectors such as steel, ammonia, methanol and refining through the use of hydrogen. The National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched in 2023 with the target of producing five million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, supported by investments in renewable energy capacity, electrolyser manufacturing and hydrogen infrastructure.
Ceres is already at the forefront of this movement; its solid oxide electrolyser cell (SOEC) has already demonstrated highly efficient hydrogen production in a megawatt-scale electrolyser at Shell’s Technology Centre in Bengaluru, India. Meanwhile, Ceres licensee Thermax, a leading global energy and environment solutions provider that is headquartered in India, is planning to start manufacturing SOEC systems domestically.
The ambition of India’s vision for energy independence and self-reliance is both impressive and achievable. The technologies that it has identified to rearchitect its power grid and industry are all proven, affordable, efficient and support India’s intent for local manufacture.