According to Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Co-Founder and Chairperson of Sustainability at ReNew Energy, India’s renewable energy ecosystem is expected to undergo significant transformations over the next five years, driven by technologies such as energy storage and green hydrogen. Energy storage will play a crucial role in addressing intermittency, enabling renewables to deliver firm and dispatchable power. Green hydrogen, on the other hand, will help decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, and fertilizers. The National Green Hydrogen Mission aims to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030, which will lead to a sharp decline in costs as electrolyzer manufacturing scales up and renewable power becomes more competitive.
The integration of storage and green hydrogen will enable renewables to become a baseload alternative, providing round-the-clock clean power and enhancing grid stability, energy security, and India’s global competitiveness in clean energy manufacturing and exports. India’s plan to reach 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 will require an investment of around ₹30 lakh crore, which will be mobilized through green bonds, blended finance structures, and multilateral participation.
ReNew Energy, which has already made significant strides in solar manufacturing, is planning to foray into wafer manufacturing. The company has set up a 6.5 GW module manufacturing facility in Jaipur and a 2.5 GW cell manufacturing facility in Dholera, Gujarat. It also plans to set up a 6 GW PV ingot and wafer manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. ReNew anticipates that India will have a fully domestic solar manufacturing chain over the next 4-5 years, making it a major alternative supplier globally.
Sustainability is at the core of ReNew’s purpose, and the company has made significant efforts to create impact beyond clean power generation. Through its ESG initiatives, ReNew has positively impacted over 1.7 million lives, with a CSR spend of around ₹32 crore in FY25. The company has also made significant progress in gender diversity and inclusion, with women holding 40% of board positions, 12% of STEM roles, and around 17% of management positions. ReNew aims to achieve 30% women in its workforce by 2030 and has strengthened institutional mechanisms to promote diversity and inclusion.