Andhra Pradesh emerges as a leader in India’s rooftop solar push: Union Minister

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi share a light-hearted moment during the valedictory session of the 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi has said that India has made remarkable progress in ensuring energy security, with Andhra Pradesh playing a significant role through rooftop solar installations and solar-powered agricultural pump sets.

Addressing a session on ‘Securing the Sustainable Future: Energy Resilience, Clean Technologies and Global Partnership’ at the 31st CII Partnership Summit 2026, he said the country’s peak power demand had risen from 123 GW in 2012 to 270 GW. Recalling the grid collapse in 2012 that plunged north India into darkness for nearly 72 hours, he said the country was now meeting the increased demand without interruption, with nearly 33% of the power sourced from non-fossil fuels.

India’s solar power capacity had expanded from 2.80 GW in 2014 to 175 GW, he said, adding that non-fossil sources now accounted for nearly 55% of the country’s total installed power generation capacity. India was on course to achieve its target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.

Mr. Joshi said Andhra Pradesh had enabled 7.86 lakh households to install rooftop solar systems. Under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, 66 lakh households across the country had benefited against the target of one crore.

Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Zero Defect, Zero Effect’ manufacturing, he said green energy would help India emerge as a global hub for green manufacturing.