Q1 2026 (Jan-Mar) India RE update

Q1 2026 (Jan-Mar) India RE update

Summary

Q1 2026 (Jan-Mar) India RE update

• Cumulative: India’s renewable capacity installation reached 275 GW as of March 31, 2026. Overall renewable capacity share in total installations in India is about 51% as of March 31, 2026.Solar continues to be the major contributor with a 55% (150.26 GW) share in the total renewable mix, followed by wind 20% (56.09 GW) and large hydro with a 19% (51.41 GW) share. The current pipeline of combined capacity of solar, wind, hybrid, and storage projects is around 169 GW, which is likely to be commissioned in the next 4-5 years. Another 43 GW of projects are under the bidding phase i.e., where tenders have been issued but auctions are not yet concluded.
• Yearly: FY2026 witnessed strong year-on-year growth in India’s solar capacity additions, with total installations increasing from 23.84 GW in FY2025 to 44.62 GW, reflecting an 87.16 % rise. Utility-scale solar remained the key growth driver, more than doubling from 16.90 GW to 34.85 GW. Rooftop solar installations increased from 5.15 GW to 8.71 GW due to higher adoption across residential and PM Surya Ghar. Off-grid solar additions declined from 1.79 GW to 1.06 GW, indicating slower growth in decentralized solar deployment. Wind installations increased from 4.15 GW in FY2025 to 6.06 GW in FY2026, registering a YoY growth of 46.02%.
• Quarterly: During Q1 2026 (Jan–Mar), India added approximately 12.12 GW of utility-scale solar capacity, marking about a ~95% increase from the previous quarter. In the wind sector, installations reached around 1.58 GW, a 16% increase compared to Q4 2025. Additionally, the rooftop segment saw about 2.14 GW installations.

Projections

• Yearly: According to JMK Research, in FY2027, about 48-50 GW of new solar capacity is expected to be added. Whereas in the wind segment, it is projected that around 7 GW of new capacity is likely to be added in FY2027.
• Quarterly: In the next two quarters, about 25 GW of solar and 2.9 GW of wind capacity is expected to be installed in the country.

Quarterly Market Shares

• Inverters: In Q1 2026, over 27.5 GW of shipment data was recorded from 19 players supplying both central and string inverters in India. Sungrow continued to lead the market in Q1 2026 with shipments exceeding 10 GW, driven primarily by central inverters while maintaining a significant string inverter share.
• Modules: In Q1 2026, about 20.5 GW of modules were shipped by leading 23 players in the Indian market in which top 5 players contributed around 51.2% share. Waaree is the leading supplier with 17.2% market share in Q1 2026.
• Project Developers: As of March 31, 2026, the top five players in terms of cumulative installations and pipeline capacity across utility-scale solar, wind, and hybrid segments are Adani (42.4 GW), ReNew (21.2 GW), JSW Energy (16.8 GW), Avaada (16.5) and NTPC Limited (16.1 GW). These top 5 players have collectively installed around 10.1 GW of hybrid capacity as of March 2026.

Tenders

• In Q1 2026 (January–March), 8 tenders with a total capacity of 5.35 GW were issued, reflecting a 27% increase over Q4 2025 and an 11% rise compared to Q1 2025 (4.4 GW).
• In Q1 2026, 9 tenders, with approximate capacity of 6.3 GW were allocated across solar, wind, wind-solar hybrid, and RE+ storage segments, marking a 37% increase over Q4 2025, while remaining 9% lower year-on-year compared to Q1 2025.
• The lowest tariff discovered during this quarter is INR 2.34/kWh under GUVNL’s 625 MW Solar tender issued in November 2025, while SECI’s 1,200 MW/4,800 MWh RE + Storage tender discovered the highest tariff of INR 6.27/kWh.

Investments

In Q1 2026, the renewable energy sector attracted over US$ 2.1 billion in investments, about 58% lower than Q4 2025 and 65% lower than Q1 2025. 

Module Price Trends

In Q1 2026, Mono PERC solar modules were priced at INR 15.2/Wp, reflecting a 6.14% increase from Q4 2025 and a 6.82% rise compared to Q1 2025.

PV Manufacturing

In Q1 2026, 13 manufacturers collectively added ~14.4 GW of module and ~4.2 GW of cell production capacity. During the quarter, a cumulative cell capacity of 4.2 GW was added by 4 players, with Cosmic Power having the highest expansion of 1.6 GW.

GDAM Traded Volume

IEX’s GDAM average traded volume in Q1 2026 stood at approximately 793 MU, reflecting an 7.5 % quarter-on-quarter decline from 857 MU in Q4 2025, attributable to seasonal demand moderation. The average GDAM trade price increased to approximately INR 4.64/kWh in Q1 2026, representing a 19.6% quarter-on-quarter rise from INR 3.87/kWh in Q4 2025.

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