The four-day Bharat Renewable Energy Summit & Expo 2026 concluded on 5 November at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The Prime Minister had inaugurated it on 2 November, and Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan addressed the valedictory session. For the first time, the Summit and Expo, the 9th Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the 4th International Conference on Green Hydrogen were held together. The event drew more than 75,000 visitors from 135 countries, produced 10 MoUs and framework agreements, and saw the release of 37 knowledge products. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi addressed the closing ceremony and then the media.
The day before the close, the Union Cabinet approved a ₹14,500 crore Viability Gap Funding scheme for 92 GWh of grid-scale storage. It covers 30 GWh of battery energy storage, 60 GWh of pumped storage and 2 GWh from new technologies.
The timing matched the message from the Summit. The agenda is shifting from adding capacity to building a reliable, flexible and integrated power system. Demand is rising from industry, cooling, electric mobility and data centres. The Minister said AI data centres are expected to add 26.3 GW of demand by 2031-32, and that renewables should meet it. "AI will power the future. Clean energy will power AI," he said.
Discussions concluded that the next phase needs storage, transmission, grid flexibility, ancillary services, forecasting, demand response and green open access. Planning for storage and transmission should be aligned with renewable procurement and demand centres. Round-the-clock supply and Firm and Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE) were a major theme. A recent SECI tender found a rate of Rs. 5.25 per unit, which drew foreign interest.
Mr. Joshi cited more than ₹15 lakh crore of investment in a decade, nearly ₹6 lakh crore of it in the last two years. Utility-scale solar costs USD 30-35 per MWh, which he called the world's lowest. Renewables have saved over USD 100 billion in fossil fuel imports.
India auctioned 15 GW of hybrid projects in 2025, taking total auctioned capacity to 64 GW. Average tariffs from 2023 to 2025 were about 20 per cent below the cost of coal power, and module manufacturing capacity has crossed 225 GW. The Prime Minister said this investment had largely shielded India from shocks such as COVID-19 and the West Asia crisis.
Reaching the 500 GW non-fossil fuel capacity target needs about USD 220 billion. Discussions suggested capital is not the constraint, since pension funds, institutional investors and patient capital are present. The bottlenecks are bankable power purchase agreements, predictable offtake, clearer risk allocation and deeper bond markets. InvITs and blended finance were discussed. A CEO-level roundtable with Chief Ministers and State Energy Ministers pointed to synchronised planning of generation, transmission, storage and demand centres, and to certainty on land and approvals.
On manufacturing, participants urged a move beyond assembly to domestic production of materials, components and advanced technologies such as perovskite cells, electrolysers and long-duration storage. Proposed supports include shared laboratories, pilot lines and testing and certification facilities. Studies on solar manufacturing, wind indigenisation and battery electrolyte, released at the Summit, show domestic capacity gaps. The IEA India RE Market Report 2026 was also launched.
The Renewable Energy State Assessment Framework (RE-SAF) and Ease of Doing Solar give a common basis for benchmarking progress and identifying barriers. The National Hydrogen Survey covers green hydrogen. A Skilling Blueprint for the top 100 RE districts links workforce readiness to deployment.
The 9th ISA Assembly considered the Director General's Report for 2026, the 2027 Workplan and Budget, and Partner Organisation status for bodies including the African Union and COMESA. A proposed USD 200 million ISA Africa Solar Facility aims to improve access to finance and speed deployment. It would use project aggregation, blended finance, local-currency financing and payment-risk mitigation. The Africa50 Distributed Renewable Energy Fund was highlighted as a model for handling the project-level and payment risks of small projects.
ISA also advanced its ambition of one million solar pumps globally. Its SIDS Platform aims to facilitate up to 500 MW across Small Island Developing States by 2030. The SUNRISE network for photovoltaic and battery circularity has grown to 35 countries. The ISA Academy and the SHINE capability centre were launched for capacity building and grid cooperation.
On green hydrogen, the conference discussed domestic demand, long-term offtake, exports, standards and safety frameworks. Among the agreements, SECI signed an MoU with Power2X for green methanol, with a first-tranche potential of 3 lakh tonnes a year. ISA signed framework agreements with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, UC Berkeley's India Energy & Climate Center and the Schneider Electric Foundation, and MoUs with Shakti Pumps and Railway Energy Management Company.
Mr. Joshi said the Prime Minister had set India a target at the Summit. He expressed confidence that industry has the capacity, investors the confidence and international partners the readiness to deliver it.
With reference to the Viability Gap Funding scheme for grid-scale energy storage approved by the Union Cabinet, consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Consider the following statements:
Statement-I: The Bharat Renewable Energy Summit 2026 concluded that capital is not the main constraint in reaching India's 500 GW non-fossil fuel capacity target.
Statement-II: Pension funds, institutional investors and patient capital are present, and the bottlenecks are bankable power purchase agreements, predictable offtake, clearer risk allocation and deeper bond markets.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
Identify the proposed initiative on the basis of the following information:
