India’s annual solar installations could jump nearly 70% to about 85 GW by FY30 from around 50 GW in FY27, as rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence-led data centres, green hydrogen and battery storage opens up a new growth cycle beyond the country’s already sizeable utility project pipeline, according to an Equirus Securities report.
The report estimates that these emerging demand segments, along with the use of existing grid connectivity during non-solar hours, could add 15–20 GW of incremental solar demand every year from FY29—a requirement that is not currently captured in Central Electricity Authority forecasts or analyst estimates.
This demand will come on top of a utility-scale project pipeline backed by 145 GW of signed power purchase agreements and 68 GW of pending awards, providing multi-year visibility for developers and project execution companies.
Between FY18 and FY26, developers won Letters of Award for 215 GW of renewable capacity, comprising 174 GW of solar and 41 GW of wind. PPAs have been signed for 145 GW, while 75 GW has been executed, leaving a 70-GW balance pipeline—58 GW of solar and 12 GW of wind. At the current utility installation run rate of around 21 GW annually, the pipeline provides roughly 2.5 years of execution visibility.
The report, however, flagged stress in the unsigned project pool. Of the 58 GW of unsigned solar PPAs, around 43 GW, or 73%, comprises plain solar and hybrid tenders where the probability of contract signing remains low. Another 15 GW covers round-the-clock, firm and dispatchable renewable energy and Solar+BESS projects, where signing prospects are significantly stronger.
Distribution companies are increasingly seeking power during both solar and non-solar hours, pushing fresh tenders away from plain solar projects and towards storage-backed supply. “New tenders [are] shifting decisively toward firm power formats, not plain solar,” the report said, adding that integrated independent power producers with storage and firm supply capabilities would be the “structural winners”.
The demand from data centres could be particularly substantial. India has approved more than 300 data-centre projects, while Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google have each committed investments of ₹2–3 lakh crore, the report said. Data-centre electricity demand could reach 30–40 GW by FY30, with AI workloads requiring uninterrupted clean power.
“AI inference requires 24×7 firm power—only Solar+BESS can deliver this at scale cost-effectively,” the report said. A 100-MW data centre operating entirely on renewable energy would require about 250 MW of solar, 150 MW of wind and 450 MWh of battery storage.
Green hydrogen offers another large demand pool. India is targeting 5 million tonnes of annual green hydrogen production by 2030 under the National Green Hydrogen Mission. Equirus estimates that every 1 million tonnes of hydrogen output would require about 20 GW of dedicated solar capacity. Even achieving 10% of the national target would create 10 GW of additional solar demand not included in current estimates.
The opportunity is supported by the government’s ₹17,490-crore production-linked incentive scheme for electrolysers and a 1.5-million-tonne hydrogen offtake tender by the Solar Energy Corporation of India.
Battery storage will be central to meeting the new power requirement. India’s BESS demand is projected to increase 6.8 times, from 34.7 GWh during 2022–27 to 236.2 GWh during 2027–32. Storage tenders totalling 80.29 GWh are at different stages, including 23.28 GWh awarded, 16.59 GWh under construction and 25.41 GWh at the request-for-selection stage. Only 0.5 GWh is currently operational.
Equirus said the acceleration is being driven by renewable integration, grid-stability requirements, storage mandates and improving economics as battery costs decline. The emerging shift could raise annual solar additions to 55 GW in FY28, 75 GW in FY29 and nearly 85 GW by FY30, turning storage-backed firm power into the next major driver of India’s renewable-energy buildout.