India adds record 52.5 GW in first 10 months of FY26

NEW DELHI: Govt on Sunday said India added a record power generation capacity of 52,537 megawatts (52.5 GW) from all energy sources in the first 10 months of the 2025-26 financial year, taking the total installed capacity to 520.6 GW as of Jan 2026.

Officials said over 75% of this addition came from renewable energy, while the rest came from thermal sources. "This marks the highest ever capacity addition in a single year, surpassing the previous record of 34,054 MW (34 GW) achieved during FY 2024-25," the ministry of power said in a statement, adding that installed capacity grew by nearly 11% in 10 months compared with the last financial year.

However, according to Central Electricity Authority's monthly reports, installed capacity in March 2025 was recorded at 475.3 GW. Officials said nearly 2 GW of coal-fired, 4.4 GW of gas-based and 100 MW of nuclear capacity had been under prolonged outage - were not working - and were written off from the total capacity.

According to govt's statement, renewable energy sources added 39.7 GW to capacity, including 35 GW of solar and 4.6 GW of wind power. Large hydro projects added 3.4 GW during FY 2025-26, thermal added 8.8 GW and nuclear 700 MW.

India now has fossil fuel-based capacity of 248.5 GW, while non-fossil fuel capacity stands at 272 GW.

According to officials, 158 GW of renewable (solar, wind and hybrid), 39.6 GW of thermal, 13 GW of hydro-electric and 6.6 GW of nuclear projects are under construction. Contracts for 22.9 GW of coal- and lignite-based projects have already been awarded, while another 24 GW capacity is at various stages of planning. Similarly, 48.8 GW of renewable, 4.3 GW of hydro-electric and 7 GW of nuclear projects are also under planning.


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