India seeks to triple clean energy capacity to 900 gigawatts by 2035, but major hurdles remain

BENGALURU, India (AP) — With the United Nations climate talks underway, India has set an ambitious goal of installing enough clean power to supply more than 1 billion homes by 2035, and has approved nearly $20 billion in power grid upgrades to ease bottlenecks that prevent some solar and wind energy from reaching consumers.

The world's most populous country and one of the biggest carbon polluters is also among the fastest to expand clean power. Accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels is a key goal of this year’s climate talks, known as COP31, in Turkey.

India announced the 900-gigawatt goal in late September. It covers nonfossil power sources, including solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear energy. It is nearly twice India’s existing target of 500 gigawatts of clean power by 2030. India's current clean power capacity of just over 300 gigawatts ranks it third behind China and the United States.

Experts say meeting the target could lower electricity costs, curb coal construction and accelerate the transition to clean energy.

The push comes as India struggles to use all the renewable electricity it can generate because of inadequate transmission infrastructure. The new goal refers to installed generating capacity, rather than the amount of electricity actually produced.

“If the grid doesn’t catch up, then there is no way India can meet this target,” Nikit Abhyankar from the India Energy and Climate Center at the University of California, Berkeley, said. “A robust and innovative transmission grid is an absolute must.”

The government also approved nearly $20 billion in funding for transmission infrastructure and battery storage under its Green Energy Corridor plan.

Economist Ajay Shah of the Mumbai-based XKDR Forum described the transition as the emergence of an Indian “electrostate,” in which electricity increasingly replaces coal and petroleum products.

“So now in India you have two assets — not only do you have cheap labor, you also have cheap energy,” Shah said.

The shift mirrors a global trend toward cleaner power, even as fossil fuel energy remains a key energy source amid rising electricity demand. Brazil, which ranks close behind India in clean energy capacity, projects renewables will supply nearly 90% of its electricity in the next decade, even as it expands oil and gas production. In the United States, where President Donald Trump supports fossil fuels, electricity demand is expected to grow by 40%, with natural gas remaining a major source.

India’s clean energy expansion could help industries replace costly imported fossil fuels with domestically produced electricity. Abhyankar said solar and wind power, even when combined with battery storage, are increasingly cost-competitive with power from coal, oil and natural gas.

Lower generation costs could eventually translate into cheaper electricity for households, though utilities also factor in transmission costs and other expenses.

However, India’s continued dependence on coal presents a major challenge to its clean energy transition. Coal generated about 71% of the country’s electricity in 2025, according to energy think tank Ember.

India’s power planners remain concerned about meeting growing demand and maintaining reliable electricity when solar and wind output fluctuates. Ghanshyam Prasad, chair of the Central Electricity Authority, said earlier this month that India could need as much as 150 gigawatts of additional coal-fired generating capacity by 2035.

Ember energy analyst Neshwin Rodrigues said coal will remain important for years, particularly until large-scale batteries can store solar energy to reliably meet demand when the sun isn't shining.

Existing coal plants also pose operational challenges. Many cannot quickly reduce output when renewable electricity becomes available, making it difficult for the grid to accommodate growing solar and wind power.

Researchers at Berkeley estimate that beyond approximately 35 gigawatts of coal capacity already under construction, additional coal plants would not be economically necessary under the country's new clean energy goals. Berkeley's Abhyankar warned that newly built coal plants could become stranded assets if the government meets its renewable energy targets.

Meeting the 2035 target requires more than building more renewable power plants. Their electricity must be able to reach consumers.

India’s rapid clean energy expansion is already testing the grid's limits. Although clean power accounted for 55% of installed power capacity by September, it generated about a third of the country’s electricity in the preceding three months, according to government data.

Over the past 16 months, India curtailed enough solar generation to power about 10 million homes because the grid could not accommodate it, according to government data and Ember.

The Green Energy Corridor plan aims to help states accommodate up to 135 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2033 by adding thousands of kilometers (miles) of transmission lines. The plan also includes additional battery storage.

But analysts question whether that's enough. The Berkeley researchers estimate that India needs as much as 250 gigawatts of energy storage to integrate renewable electricity over the next decade.

“You either have more transmission to get the power out and transfer it. Or if you cannot get the power out, you store it and then transfer it during some other hours,” Ember's Rodrigues said.

Shah, the economist, said two types of government policy could discourage investment in renewable energy: requirements that businesses pay higher rates to subsidize other consumers, and restrictions on electricity producers selling directly to private buyers.

He said India needs to allow electricity prices to rise and fall based on supply and demand, and make it easier for foreign investors to fund power projects. Domestic financing alone would not be enough to meet the country’s growing energy needs, he said.

“Currently, the government is a man in the middle, trying to interfere in a transaction between a private generator and a private buyer,” which creates a “choke point,” Shah said.

Battery supply chains pose another challenge, particularly India’s dependence on imported battery cells, mainly from China. Abhyankar said expanding domestic battery manufacturing could help India capture more economic benefits from the transition.

Despite those challenges, Abhyankar said India has already overtaken the United States in annual renewable energy growth, and its experience in expanding clean energy could be a model for other developing countries.

“What India is doing can be replicated in many countries in the Global South and can help these countries make the energy transition in an economically affordable manner," he said.

Sibi Arasu can be followed on X at @sibi123. Reach him at sarasu@ap.org.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - Lights are reflected in the Sabarmati River from the coal-based AMGEN power plant of Torrent Power in Ahmedabad, India, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

FILE - Employees work on a wind turbine blade at the Adani New Industries Limited in the port town of Mundra in Western India's Gujarat state, India, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE - Solar panels cover the land at the Unchahar solar power plant, Raebareli district, India, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)

FILE - Workers travel in a vehicle past transmission towers toward the construction site of Adani Green Energy Limited's Renewable Energy Park in the salt desert of Karim Shahi village, near Khavda, Bhuj district near the India-Pakistan border in the western state of Gujarat, India, Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE - Workers put switches and connectors after they come out of automated framing at a ReNew solar panel manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

The Federal Aviation Administration's decision to ground all flights nationwide for several hours Friday threw the sports world into chaos, leaving NBA, NHL and college teams scrambling to reach their destinations in time for games this weekend.

Transportation officials cited “extraordinary circumstances” caused by communications issues at regional air traffic control centers for the stoppage. It left some professional sports teams searching for hotel rooms, college teams were left to reschedule flights, and some teams had even taken the extraordinary step of chartering buses rather than waiting for the ground stop to end.

“We're going to allow for general aviation, those larger movements, to take place as a priority. Smaller movements will take lower priority,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday night. “If you're talking about football teams moving, many of those are charters, and there's a lot of individuals on those charter planes, so I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA to schedule those flight times, so they can move and make sure we have games going off tomorrow.”

Most college football teams playing Saturday travel the day before their game, and the stoppage left many schools — including No. 2 Utah, eighth-ranked Texas and No. 9 Tennessee — at a standstill as they departed for road games. The Utes play at No. 22 Arizona, the Longhorns visit No. 24 LSU and the Vols are traveling to Texas A&M in three of the bigger games of the weekend.

“The Southeastern Conference is aware of the FAA's nationwide ground stop and the potential impact on team travel,” the league said. “We are in close communication with our member institutions to assess potential disruptions and coordinate appropriate responses.

"The safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches and team personnel remain our highest priority.”

The Longhorns posted on social media a short video of them boarding their plane before the groundstop began. If they ended up busing to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the trip for the 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff against the Tigers on Saturday would take about seven hours.

Tennessee spokesman Bill Martin likewise said the Vols had returned to campus and were waiting for more instructions, while Auburn opted to take a bus to Mississippi State and Purdue did the same from West Lafayette, Indiana, for its game at Iowa.

Other schools affected by the stoppage included No. 19 Ole Miss, Baylor, Washington, Kansas State and Minnesota.

“The Big 12 Conference is evaluating potential changes to Saturday’s football schedule,” the league said. "The conference will continue to monitor the travel disruptions alongside its member institutions and provide updates for Saturday’s games.”

Washington spokesman Kurt Svoboda said the team returned to campus and was awaiting directives from the FAA and Big Ten for its game at Michigan State. The team also was in touch with its Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines partners and its flight crew remained in place.

Florida State was playing at Pittsburgh on Friday night, while Illinois was visiting fourth-ranked UCLA and No. 14 Houston was visiting Colorado. Those teams would typically fly home immediately after their games but now could be searching for hotel rooms.

It also was unclear whether referees, who typically fly to their assignments the day before games, would make it on time. The Big Ten said in a statement that all of its officials had arrived for their scheduled games Saturday.

Several teams were able to take off before the stoppage began, including all of those traveling in the Atlantic Coast Conference; Missouri, which was flying to top-ranked Georgia; Duke, which was visiting fifth-ranked Miami; and No. 10 Texas Tech, which posted on social media images of its arrival for a game at Oklahoma State.

NFL teams playing Sunday typically travel the day before their games, and they were expected to fly as planned on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Nets were among five NBA teams scheduled to fly Friday for games Saturday. They had just boarded the team plane in New Orleans after playing the Pelicans earlier this week when their flight to Memphis was halted in place.

The Pistons flew earlier in the day to Miami. The Cavaliers, Bulls and Grizzlies play Friday night and were due to fly afterward.

The Cavaliers played in Miami on Friday night and were scheduled to play the Mavericks at home on Saturday. Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said about 90 minutes before tip-off that his team was scrambling to find hotel rooms for Friday night, just in case.

“It’s part of it. You just adapt,” Atkinson said.

There are 14 scheduled games in the NHL on Saturday. The Panthers were among the majority that made it to their destinations before the stoppage began, but the Sharks were left waiting in San Jose to see whether they would be able to travel to Utah.

JuJu Watkins and her third-ranked Southern California teammates were trying to get to South Carolina for their game Sunday against the top-ranked Gamecocks. The team had just boarded its flight at Los Angeles International Airport when the ground stop was issued. After a while, the decision was made to deboard passengers and the team returned to the Galen Center.

AP Sports Writers Jim Vertuno, Aaron Beard, Tim Reynolds, Larry Lage and Beth Harris contributed to this report.

See AP’s full sports coverage here

People walk past a flight board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Arlington, Va., after the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Aircraft are seen at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Planes sit on the tarmac at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in DFW Airport, Texas, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)