India Can Emerge as Global Hub for Renewable Manufacturing, Exports, Says MNRE Secretary

India has strong potential to become a global hub for renewable energy manufacturing, project development and exports, said MNRE Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi at the annual meet of the Sustainable Projects Developers Association (SPDA).

Addressing policymakers and industry leaders, Sarangi said that India’s push toward becoming a developed nation by 2047 will require rapid expansion of clean and reliable power to support electricity-intensive sectors such as data centres, artificial intelligence and IoT services.

He noted that renewable growth will increasingly move beyond utility-scale solar and wind toward distributed energy, green open access and prosumer models enabled by digital platforms and the India Energy Stack. Hybrid and storage-backed solutions are gaining importance as plain solar and wind may not match DISCOM demand curves, he added.

Sarangi also stressed the need for transmission planning and said DISCOMs must transition toward Electricity-as-a-Service models using digital monitoring and smart grid tools. Renewable installations are expected to be driven by commercial and industrial demand, along with emerging sectors such as green hydrogen.

SPDA Chairman Vineet Mittal, who also heads the Avaada Group, said that India’s renewable sector has scaled from megawatt-sized projects to adding nearly 50 GW annually and now supports close to one million jobs.

He said that the next phase must focus on deeper localisation of the supply chain, including balance-of-system components, to strengthen energy security and industrial resilience. Mittal added that large-scale deployment of hybrid and storage-backed renewables would be critical as India moves toward its 500 GW non-fossil capacity target.

The event saw participation from major renewable developers and manufacturers including Avaada, ACME, Waaree, Serentica, Azure Power, Aditya Birla Group and Sembcorp. SPDA also elected Sandeep Kashyap, CEO of Purvah Green Power, as its president for a one-year term.

SPDA said that it will expand its policy advocacy in renewable energy, green hydrogen and storage while strengthening its global presence. The association represents over 40 companies across solar, wind, hybrid, battery storage and green hydrogen segments.