Speaking at the recently held RE Conclave 2026 in Gandhinagar, Naran Pindoriya, faculty member at IIT-Gandhinagar, described the power sector as caught in the midst of a “triple transition”— decarbonisation, decentralisation, and digitalisation.

While its generation gets most of the attention, the evacuation and utilisation of renewable energy are equally critical

— Naran Pindoriya, faculty member, IIT-Gandhinagar

He also pointed to the need for grid modernisation as renewable power increasingly flows from decentralised coastal wind farms to distant urban load centres.

He said that policy thrust is not just on generation, but consumption as well. Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs) for discoms and Renewable Consumption Obligations (RCOs) for heavy industries and MSMEs, such as textile, cement, aluminium, and iron, are driving a shift away from fossil fuels.

Storage Needs A Systems Approach

A host of policies in place today are technology-specific or related to procurement strategies, but if climate change is considered a common problem, a holistic approach, beyond looking at it as an individual technology, will need to be implemented.

There is no silver bullet. Climate change is a global problem, and it requires a systems approach

— Rahul Walawalkar, Co-Founder and President, Net Zero Energy Transition Association (NETRA)

Accordingly, technology readiness is only one piece of the puzzle. Along with technology readiness, we need manufacturing readiness and market readiness.

Too often, countries spend decades moving from lab-scale innovation to manufacturing and then lose further time waiting for policy and financing to catch up.

Land Is Not A Constraint

According to S.B. Dangayach, Founder-Trustee, Innovative Thought Forum, “land shortage narrative is just a myth.”

Nobody has seriously done land footprinting or land assessment [in this country] 

— S.B. Dangayach, Founder-Trustee, Innovative Thought Forum

Citing Gujarat’s plan to scale from 40,000 MW to 100,000 MW, Dangayach said, “I can assure you that land is not a constraint in Gujarat for meeting 100,000 MW plans, provided utility-scale projects are integrated with decentralised and distributed models."

For Divyesh Desai, visiting faculty at IIM-Ahmedabad, the most underrated word in the energy transition is “capacity.” “The changes happening in the energy space are way beyond what people can easily comprehend,” he said.

Capacity-building, he stressed, must extend beyond technicians. “

It [capacity-building] has to include politicians, administrators, executives, and people working on the ground. India lacks a robust carbon credit measurement, reporting, and verification system

— Divyesh Desai, visiting faculty, IIM-Ahmedabad

“China has a resilient data infrastructure to track carbon credits. In India, one unit of solar and one unit of municipal solid waste (MSW) power are treated the same,” he noted.

Green Workforce

However, technological progress alone is insufficient if there are no people to implement it. The government's push is necessary, but skilling and capacity-building are equally critical.

Responding to the question by Prof. Amit Garg, IIM Ahemedabad who was moderating the panel, Parveen Dhamija, former Advisor to the Skill Council for Green Jobs, flagged low awareness and poor uptake of green jobs, despite flagship initiatives such as Skill India.

“The inclination among students to take up green jobs is very poor, and women's participation is extremely low,” she noted.

Citing an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, Dhamija argued that skilling must begin early. “Skilling should start at the school level, and the new National Education Policy is moving in that direction,” she said.

She also emphasised “greening of jobs” across sectors, with a focus on waste minimisation, recycling, water conservation, and energy efficiency.

Every job of the future has to be a green job

— Parveen Dhamija, former Advisor to the Skill Council for Green Jobs

Meanwhile, Walawalkar flagged a skills bottleneck, particularly for gigafactories in solar and batteries. “Many projects are getting delayed not because money isn’t available, but because we don’t have skilled technicians who can install equipment and optimise processes,” he said, calling for industry-oriented rapid prototyping and hands-on training facilities.

Financing The Transition

On financing for renewable energy transition, Deepak Chandel, who is associated with the State Bank of India, said that financing will be the backbone of Gujarat’s renewable ambitions. “Vision, policy, technology, capacity building, and entrepreneurs are all essential, but finance is equally important,” he said.

According to SBI estimates, Gujarat will require nearly ₹1 lakh crore in funding by 2030. Chandel revealed that the SBI has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to finance ₹35,000 crore by 2030, and aims to triple its green finance portfolio in the State to about ₹4,000 crore by March.

Renewable Ecosystem

“We have schemes for EPC contractors, captive and non-captive projects, biofuel units and EV charging stations,” Chandel said, stressing that the bank is “fully committed” to supporting the renewable ecosystem with flexible and targeted financial products.

As of December 31, 2025, Gujarat’s cumulative renewable energy installations have crossed 40GW, accounting for 16.50% of India’s total renewable capacity, making it the country’s largest contributor. 

This surge was driven by government incentives, policy reforms, and increased investments in domestic solar and wind turbine manufacturing. Solar energy remained the dominant contributor to India’s renewable energy growth.

Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu emerged as the top-performing States, contributing 71% of India’s total utility-scale solar installations.