Over the past decade, India has emerged as a global leader in renewable energy (RE), ranking third behind China and the US in installations and power generation. More than 71 percent of India's total installed renewable energy capacity, which stands at approximately 247 gigawatt (GW), comes from solar and wind installations. This surge in clean energy generation, particularly from variable renewable energy (VRE) sources like solar and wind, is prompting a paradigm shift in power transmission dynamics.
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Power transmission is a critical component of the electricity value chain, and a robust and resilient network is essential for integrating the increasing RE capacity into the grid. Historically, India's power transmission network has been among the most advanced in the world, characterised by proactive planning and upgrades that have resulted in minimal congestion and strong operational performance. However, the significantly shorter gestation periods of VRE installations have left the transmission network struggling to keep pace with RE deployment. The result is a growing gap between clean power generation and the availability of energy evacuation infrastructure.
The diurnal and seasonal variability of VRE further complicates transmission planning, leading to stranded RE assets and underutilisation of transmission infrastructure. Currently, around 50 GW of RE capacity is stranded across India, resulting in cost overruns, delayed returns, and diminished investor confidence.
The rising complications in VRE evacuation and its integration into the power transmission network have prompted power regulators to ramp up their transmission planning efforts. In September 2025, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) Chairperson Ghanshyam Prasad reaffirmed the goal of integrating 600 GW of renewables into India’s power grid by 2032. He noted that to ensure seamless integration, the CEA has shifted to potential-based planning, adding that the plans will be revised every six months to reflect continuously evolving ground realities. Monthly meetings are also being held to expedite investment planning and prevent delays in approvals and execution.
Turning the increased planning efforts into actual implementation will require addressing the persistent challenges that hinder the development of green power transmission, like difficulties in land acquisition for right of way, and overseas transmission equipment procurement constraints, among other issues. Also, state-specific issues—such as Rajasthan's great Indian bustard (GIB) case concerning the critically endangered bird’s deaths from collisions with overhead power lines—further demonstrate the multi-faceted nature of delays that transmission network expansion can face, stretching gestation periods of transmission projects further vis-à-vis solar and wind.
Rajasthan, in particular, is grappling with significant transmission bottlenecks, making it a hotspot of stranded RE assets. The primary reasons for this include delayed commissioning of transmission infrastructure, technical and ecological hurdles, and speculative grid access. As of July 2025, around 8 GW out of Rajasthan's 22 GW of operational inter-state transmission system (ISTS)-connected RE projects remained stranded. Additionally, these projects also faced generation curtailment of roughly 3.8 GW in the same month. These issues underscore the broader problem of rapidly developing geographically concentrated RE capacity without adequate planning and growth of evacuation infrastructure. The Rajasthan government’s proposal this year to establish 2,000 megawatt-hour (MWh) of grid-scale battery energy storage aims to mitigate RE power curtailments and improve state grid utilisation.
A comprehensive state-wise green power transmission roadmap is essential to ensure that Rajasthan and other RE-rich states can sustainably integrate future RE capacity additions. This roadmap should be target-oriented and timeline-bound with clearly specified deadlines and associated penalties. It should incorporate cluster-level demand forecasting by coordinating with state IT, industry, and urban development agencies to identify emerging high-intensity loads like data centres and electric vehicle charging (EV) hubs. Moreover, given the ongoing rise in electricity demand and land prices, the roadmap must prioritise overbuilding of transmission assets, even at the cost of initial underutilisation.
The roadmap should also recognise the importance of energy storage systems (ESS). Critical in power generation and distribution, ESSs will also play a vital role in the green power transmission sector. At key transmission nodes, storage systems can provide valuable ancillary services such as frequency regulation, voltage stability, congestion management, and black start capabilities. The roadmap must incorporate and clearly specify the state-wise transmission-focused energy storage requirements.
India’s power transmission sector is highly concentrated and averse to foreign and private sector investment. Encouraging participation and fostering an investor-friendly climate will be essential to build the requisite transmission capacity organically.
Transmission planning and operations must leverage advanced forecasting, load-flow modelling, and real-time monitoring to enhance predictability and operational efficiency. Additionally, there is a need to move beyond conventional power purchase agreement (PPA) or merit-order based dispatch systems and transition to a security constrained economic dispatch (SCED) model. SCED optimises real-time generation schedules by accounting for constraints such as transmission limits, generator ramp rates, and reserve requirements.
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Ultimately, a modern and robust transmission network will form the invisible backbone of India’s power sector, one that is flexible, resilient, and fully aligned with the country’s long-term decarbonisation goals.