ESG World News | New Delhi | Monday, 12 October 2026 – India’s clean energy transition crossed a symbolic threshold in July–September 2026. Renewable electricity generation, excluding large hydro, crossed 100 billion units (BU) for the first time, reaching 101 BU, while combined non-fossil generation hit a record 177 BU, up from 163 BU in Q2 FY2025-26. The data comes from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air’s (CREA) Quarterly Energy Snapshot for India, published on 12 October 2026 and authored by Manoj Kumar N, Medha Mathew and Nandikesh Sivalingam.
The milestone arrives alongside a warning: coal inventories at thermal plants have slid to uncomfortable levels just as demand hits record highs.
Solar leads the surge
Overall, India’s electricity generation rose 11% year-on-year in Q2 FY2026-27 to 536 BU. Solar was the standout. It grew 39% year-on-year, ahead of wind at 29% and nuclear at 26%, while hydropower fell 20%. Solar also set a fresh daily record of 705 million units on 30 September, and accounted for 58% of the increase in renewable generation during the quarter.
Hydro played a supporting role in tipping renewables past the 100 BU mark. Large hydro output climbed 53% quarter-on-quarter, from 39 BU in Q1 to 60 BU in Q2, though it stayed 20% below last year’s level.
Coal still carries the load
Despite the clean energy record, coal remains dominant. Coal and lignite supplied 351 BU, about 66% of total generation, up 12.5% year-on-year from 312 BU. In fact, coal and lignite drove 73% of the year-on-year increase in generation, with solar and wind contributing 27% and 19%, while large hydro’s contribution was negative at minus 27%.
Demand pressure was intense. Peak demand touched 270 GW on 16 July 2026, 18% above last year’s Q2 peak of 230 GW, and on 62 of the quarter’s 92 days, the daily peak fell during solar hours. Yet coal plants were far from stretched. CREA’s India Analyst Manoj Kumar noted that even at record peak demand, “India’s coal power plants only reached 68 per cent of their utilisation rate” in the quarter.
Coal stocks slide to critical levels
The more urgent concern is fuel supply. Coal consumption at power plants held near 79 million tonnes (Mt) per month from June to September, but dispatch to plants dropped from 74 Mt in May to 66 Mt in August. Rake loading was stepped up sharply in early September, peaking at 444 rakes on 6 September, but plant stocks kept falling, reaching 21 Mt by 30 September — only 36% of the 58 Mt normative requirement.
Plants holding less than 25% of their required stock rose from 32 on 22 August to 61 on 8 September, 84 by 30 September and 85 by 1 October. According to pv magazine India’s reading of the release, that number reached 91 by 6 October.
Grid bottlenecks waste clean power
Record generation has not meant full absorption. In July and August, around 1,835 million units of renewable power was curtailed — 1,462 MU of solar and 373 MU of wind — due to grid and operational constraints. Storage is beginning to help: about 9.1 GWh of battery storage is operational, with roughly 3 GWh more expected by December 2026, and storage supplied up to 5.5 GW during night-time peaks, up from 4.1 GW the previous quarter. Tenders for about 290 GWh of storage had been issued as of August 2026.
Capacity shift continues
Renewables added 7 GW in Q2 against 0.8 GW of thermal, while 648 MW of thermal capacity was retired. Installed capacity stood at 555 GW by August 2026, with non-fossil sources making up roughly 55%. Still, 44 GW of coal capacity is under construction, and nearly 90% of it is less than half complete — which CREA suggests should prompt a rethink to avoid stranded, underused assets.
The ESG takeaway
For investors, utilities and corporate buyers of green power, the quarter sends a clear signal. Renewables are now delivering at scale, but the next phase of India’s transition depends less on adding megawatts and more on transmission, storage and flexible thermal operations. Until those catch up, coal supply chains will remain a reliability risk — and curtailed clean power a lost revenue stream.
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