The role of institutions and public policies in catalyzing solar power growth in India

Solar started as an additional energy source in India's energy mix but has transitioned into a strategic energy source and a key element of India's energy and climate commitments. Solar capacity has reached half of India's coal capacity and generates about 8% of electricity. While prior studies discuss opportunities, challenges, and policies, systematic evaluations remain scarce. This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze India's solar sector growth using latest numbers available in the reviewed literature, discuss future challenges, and the impacts on emissions and jobs. Using mixed-method research, including discourse analysis, we find purpose-built entities have been at the centre of solar growth in a coordinated effort from other layered organizations to target specific solar applications. Much of the growth came from lateral consensus-building and coordination on solar policies across the central government agencies. Institutions and policies supported mainstreaming solar by increasing installation, generation, and use of solar as an energy source. The focus on domestically produced solar panels and other equipment is now gaining traction. We find that from 2010 to 2024, solarization has saved 409–488 Mt CO₂ emissions and created over 21,000 full-time and 210–262 thousand temporary jobs. We identify four challenges that could adversely affect the speed and scale of future solar growth, namely land availability, investment needs, structural issues, and target setting, called the ‘LIST challenges in the solar sector’. The growth in solar now requires consensus-building and coordination amongst national entities and subnational entities and policies to catalyze the strategic integration of solar.