As tensions in West Asia rattle global fuel markets, International Solar Alliance Director General Ashish Khanna says India has a historic opportunity to transform its energy landscape.
He emphasises that solar power should be treated not just as a climate solution, but as a strategic national security asset and scaled up at 2-3 times the current pace.
India is already building one of the world's largest solar programmes. Yet, even as clean energy capacity grows, the country is not fully tapping the solar power it produces. For Khanna, unlocking this potential is central to strengthening India's energy independence.
"India must view solar power-across rooftops, farms, and large-scale parks as critical infrastructure, equal in importance to defence and food systems. Energy security is national security," Khanna told NDTV. "The current fuel crisis is a wake-up call. By accelerating solar, storage, and electrification, we can reduce imports, enhance resilience, and secure a brighter, self-reliant energy future."
The Shock That Changed The Conversation
The latest geopolitical tensions affecting key oil route, the Strait of Hormuz, have sent a ripple through global fuel markets. For import-dependent economies like India, such disruptions quickly translate into higher costs, inflation, and fiscal strain.
Nearly 90% of our imported LPG and over 85% of our crude oil flow through that narrow waterway. When it's blocked, the pain hits every kitchen and every factory.
In response, countries often fall back on coal to stabilise supply. India is no exception.
But the current crisis is also accelerating a shift in thinking: energy independence is no longer just about supply - it is about control. And that is where solar power comes in.
From Climate Goal To Security Imperative
A decade ago, solar energy was primarily framed as a climate solution. Today, it is increasingly an economic and strategic one. Falling costs have made solar the cheapest source of new electricity in many markets. Investment trends reflect that shift, with capital flowing rapidly into solar and related technologies.
For India, the implications are significant. Solar is the only major energy source it can scale domestically at speed.
"Solar, storage, and electrification together are the fastest route to energy independence," Khanna said, adding that solar plus storage is now the lowest-cost power solution, while schemes like PM-KUSUM can transform agriculture and cut diesel use, and scaling rooftop solar alongside electric vehicles will be key to achieving energy independence.
The Paradox: Surplus Power, Unmet Demand
India today has a total installed power capacity of 520 GW, with more than 265 GW from non-fossil fuel sources, targeting 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030.
According to CEA's Energy Adequacy Plan, non-fossil fuels are projected to reach nearly 70% of total installed capacity by 2035-36; solar capacity now exceeds 140 GW after adding a record 38 GW in 2025, though clean energy curtailment is rising.
India's renewable push has delivered impressive gains. More than half of its installed power capacity now comes from non-fossil sources, with solar forming a large and growing share.
Yet a critical gap remains between generation and utilisation.
In 2025 alone, India curtailed an estimated 2.3 terawatt-hours of solar power-energy that could have powered hundreds of thousands of homes. Instead, it went unused.
At a time of global fuel uncertainty, that is not just inefficiency. It is a strategic loss.
"A massive 38 GW of solar capacity was added in 2025. Yet, curtailment of renewable energy emerged as a key theme of the year, driven by transmission constraints and grid security concerns through emergency measures. In many ways, such curtailment defeats the very purpose of building this capacity. While grid security-related curtailment in 2025 may not be a major concern in isolation, as it was largely triggered by lower-than-expected demand, it served as a real-world stress test for a high-solar future. It highlighted a fundamental reality: clean energy cannot scale efficiently without flexibility", stated Ruchita Shah, Energy Analyst, Ember.
Why India Can't Use All Its Solar Power
The problem is not a lack of capacity, it is how the system is built.
Solar generation peaks during the day. Demand, however, rises in the evening. Meanwhile, coal plants, which still supply roughly 70% of India's electricity, cannot easily ramp down.
The result is a structural mismatch. Even when solar power is available, the grid cannot always absorb it.
Transmission bottlenecks make matters worse. Renewable-rich states such as Rajasthan and Gujarat often lack the infrastructure to move electricity to demand centres, leaving capacity stranded.
Coal Is Still In Control
Despite rapid renewable expansion, coal remains the backbone of India's power system.
That creates a lock-in effect. The grid is designed around coal's limitations, not solar's potential.
During crises, this dependence deepens. Faced with uncertainty in global fuel markets, countries prioritise reliability-and coal becomes the fallback.
Breaking this cycle will require more than adding solar panels. It will require redesigning the system itself.
The Missing Piece: Storage
One of the biggest gaps in India's energy transition is storage.
Without it, surplus solar power generated during the day cannot be used when demand peaks after sunset. Batteries and other storage technologies can bridge that gap-but deployment remains limited.
India will need massive storage capacity in the coming years to make renewable energy reliable at scale. For now, that build-out is lagging behind.
Electrification is the real game changer
Solar alone cannot deliver energy independence. It must be paired with electrification across the economy.
That means shifting households, transport, and industry away from fossil fuels and onto electricity-ideally powered by renewables.
Cooking is a key example. India imports a large share of its LPG, making it vulnerable to global price shocks. Moving toward electric cooking could directly replace those imports with domestic energy.
Electric vehicles and electrified industry can deliver similar gains by cutting oil demand.
Rethinking When Energy Is Used
Fixing the system is not just about producing more clean energy-it is also about using it differently.
Aligning consumption with solar generation can reduce waste. Tools such as time-of-day pricing, smart meters, and demand-response systems can shift electricity use to daylight hours, when solar power is abundant.
This kind of demand-side flexibility is often overlooked, but it is one of the fastest ways to improve efficiency.
A Grid Built For A Different Era
India's electricity grid was designed for a centralised, fossil fuel-based system. That model is now under strain.
The rise of rooftop solar, distributed energy, and battery storage is making the system more complex. Managing it will require digital tools, real-time data, and smarter planning.
Without that upgrade, renewable growth will continue to outpace the grid's ability to handle it.
A Narrow Window To Act
India has clear advantages: abundant sunlight, falling technology costs, and strong policy momentum. It is already one of the world's largest solar markets.
But the gap between ambition and execution is widening.
The current crisis offers a narrow window to close that gap. It has exposed the risks of fossil fuel dependence-and the cost of moving too slowly on alternatives.
"India has the resources and the momentum," Khanna said. "What we need now is speed and scale. India is poised to lead Global South on solar."
The challenge is no longer whether India can build clean energy. It is whether it can build a system that actually uses it.
Because in a world of recurring energy shocks, wasting domestic power while importing expensive fuel is no longer just inefficient-it is untenable.
