India Drops Fixed Annual Clean Energy Tender Targets, Shifting to Demand-Based Approach

India’s government has decided to stop setting fixed annual targets for issuing clean energy project tenders, a senior official from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said, after the country missed last year’s goal and built up a large backlog of renewable projects without confirmed buyers.

Under the previous approach, India aimed to tender around 50 gigawatts (GW) of new clean energy capacity each year, but in 2025 it managed only about 15 GW, leaving developers holding rights to roughly 43 GW of renewable projects with no state utilities ready to purchase the power. Many state utilities have delayed signing power purchase agreements, hoping prices will fall and citing uncertainties in transmission infrastructure.

Because of these challenges, the ministry will now issue tenders only when there is clear demand from buyers, instead of targeting a set annual capacity. The official said that less than half of the existing unsold capacity may be cancelled, and agencies are working to secure buyers for the backlog.

Despite this shift, India still intends to stay on track for its 2030 goal of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity, having added about 38 GW of clean energy in 2025.

The ministry is also considering restructuring renewable energy agencies involved in tendering - potentially consolidating responsibilities under the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) - as other agencies like NTPC, NHPC, and SJVN look to step back from that role.

The shift from 50 GW annual tender target (2025 actual: 15 GW; 43 GW backlog without buyers) to demand-based tendering reflects appropriate policy correction - tendering supply without underlying off-take demand generates stranded developer commitments rather than deployed capacity. The demand-based architecture rebalances the sequence toward buyer-first, tender-second.

The DISCOM-off-take-and-transmission challenge is structural. State utilities delaying PPAs anticipating price declines is rational individual behaviour that generates collective inefficiency; transmission constraint compounds this by making some potential PPAs impractical. Well-designed policy addresses transmission investment, DISCOM financial health and tariff-structure incentives simultaneously.

For renewable developers, EPC contractors, financial institutions and technology providers active in Indian renewable investment, Cognitud's energy transition, responsible investment and market intelligence teams help clients evaluate opportunities under the demand-based tender framework, structure long-term commercial arrangements aligned with DISCOM off-take realities, and prepare disclosures aligned with BRSR, ISSB and jurisdictional renewable-energy frameworks.