State of the Decentralised Renewable Energy Sector in India

The report provides a comprehensive overview of India's decentralised renewable energy (DRE) landscape, detailing deployment statistics, government schemes, and the role of R&D in driving innovation. It highlights the transition of DRE from basic lighting to productive livelihood applications and identifies 'weak-grid' areas as a significant growth market. The document emphasizes the necessity of harmonized international standards to prevent market spoilage and facilitate global trade. It also showcases the 'transformational journeys' of Indian companies expanding into Sub-Saharan Africa, leveraging digital technologies like Pay-as-you-Go (PayG) and standardized mini-grid models to address energy poverty.

• As of December 31, 2022, India's cumulative deployment of off-grid solar applications included over 10 million solar lanterns, approximately 1.7 million home lights, nearly 945,000 street lights, and over 500,000 solar pumps.
• The Indian DRE sector faces a critical shortage of reliable, real-time data, which hinders the ability of users to make informed product choices and obstructs the government's capacity to formulate effective policies.
• There is a significant market opportunity for DRE in 'weak-grid' areas—where electricity is inadequate or unreliable—by integrating distributed solar, battery storage, and efficient appliances like Brushless DC (BLDC) motors.
• Adopting harmonized international standards, such as those from the IEC, is essential to prevent the entry of sub-standard products, protect consumers, and reduce technical barriers to international trade.
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) RE-RTD programme, with a budget of INR 228 crore for 2021-2026, supports R&D for technology indigenization and the development of DRE solutions for drinking water, silk processing, and solar pumping.
• DRE technologies have a strong positive impact on gender equality in India, with one assessment showing that over 80% of end-users of programme-supported DRE livelihood technologies were women as of August 2022.
• Indian DRE companies are successfully expanding into Sub-Saharan Africa by utilizing digital business models like Pay-as-you-Go (PayG) and leveraging experience from the Indian market to deploy mini-grids in countries such as Nigeria and Tanzania.
• The report identifies a need for the Indian government to prioritize DRE for thermal energy needs beyond domestic cooking, specifically for industrial and commercial applications requiring temperatures below 80°C.

APA

Lecoque, D., Mohapatra, D., Lai, E., & Awasthy, S. (n.d.). State of the Decentralised Renewable Energy Sector in India. Alliance for Renewable Electrification. https://www.renewelec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DRE-SoS-2023-CLEAN-WEFT.pdf

Chicago

Lecoque, David, Deepak Mohapatra, Elisa Lai, and Sumedha Awasthy. State of the Decentralised Renewable Energy Sector in India. Alliance for Renewable Electrification, n.d. https://www.renewelec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DRE-SoS-2023-CLEAN-WEFT.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lecoque |first1=David |last2=Mohapatra |first2=Deepak |last3=Lai |first3=Elisa |last4=Awasthy |first4=Sumedha |title=State of the Decentralised Renewable Energy Sector in India |publisher=Alliance for Renewable Electrification |url=https://www.renewelec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DRE-SoS-2023-CLEAN-WEFT.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lecoquendstate, author = {Lecoque, David and Mohapatra, Deepak and Lai, Elisa and Awasthy, Sumedha}, title = {{State of the Decentralised Renewable Energy Sector in India}}, institution = {Alliance for Renewable Electrification}, url = {https://www.renewelec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DRE-SoS-2023-CLEAN-WEFT.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }