Renewable Energy & Green Technology
GS Paper: GS Paper III | Subject: Environment | Last updated: 2026-06-21
Prelims
(Key facts, data, schemes, laws, organizations — MCQ-ready points)
India's Battery Energy-Storage Capacity Surges (The Hindu, 17-06-2026)
- India added 4.6 GWh of battery energy-storage capacity in Q1 2026 (Jan–Mar) — a 941% jump from 442.7 MWh in the preceding Oct–Dec 2025 quarter; cumulative installed capacity reached 5.9 GWh
- Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are critical for grid stability and firming up variable renewables (solar/wind) — storing surplus daytime solar for evening peaks — central to India's clean-energy transition and its 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030 target
'Suryagram' — Solar Village Model (Odisha) (The Hindu, 21-06-2026)
- Pahadpur village (President Murmu's in-laws' village, Mayurbhanj, Odisha) is to be developed as a "Suryagram" (solar village) where every household generates solar power — a decentralised, rooftop-/distributed-solar model for rural energy self-reliance
- Aligns with PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (rooftop solar) and the broader solar-village push (cf. Modhera, Gujarat — India's first solar village); ties development to clean energy in a tribal region
India — 3rd-Largest Solar, 4th-Largest Wind (The Hindu, 21-06-2026)
- India is the third-largest nation by installed solar capacity and fourth-largest by installed wind capacity (Schneider Electric's Bin Lu); but grid congestion and a large pipeline of renewables awaiting connection are constraints
- Surging AI/data-centre power demand is pushing interest in on-site generation + energy storage to ease grid pressure — linking the clean-energy transition to the digital economy
Mains
(Analysis, dimensions, significance, critique, policy angles — for 10/15 mark answers)
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