India's solar energy is getting wasted: Here's why
India's solar energy push is running into some serious grid problems.
In October 2025, about 12% of all solar power generated never reached homes or businesses—the highest curtailment since May 2025, when tracking began.
On some days, about 40% of solar power output was denied access to the national network.
Why is solar energy getting wasted?
Coal plants aren't flexible enough to dial down when the sun is shining brightest, so the grid can't always use all that midday solar energy.
Even with a massive 129.9 GW of installed solar capacity by October-end, both solar and wind are getting held back by an old-school system that wasn't built for renewables.
Impact on new projects
Without big battery storage and better transmission lines, extra clean energy can't be saved for peak hours or sent where it's needed most.
This bottleneck is stalling deals for around 44 GW of new projects and threatens India's big goal: hitting 500 GW of renewable capacity by 2030.
Upgrading storage and grid infrastructure isn't just smart—it's urgent if India wants its green dreams to become reality.