Chairman’s Speech Mr. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Power
FY26 has been a year of contrasts. The year began with expectations of steady global growth spurred by spending on Artificial Intelligence and resilient supply chains. Several landmark trade agreements were finalised including the India-EU free trade agreement and the interim trade deal with the US. However, these positive developments have been accompanied by the start of the West Asia crisis which led to concerns about stagflation – slowing growth coupled with rising inflation, and energy security.
The effects of climate change has also intensified. Over the last 65 years, the Earth has absorbed more heat than it can release. With the El Nino effect predicted for 2026, this year is anticipated to be hotter with higher cooling requirements.
Parallelly, global spending on AI has picked up, and is beginning to rival investment in oil & natural gas. Global data centres electricity demand grew at 17% in 2025. This was much higher than the overall global electricity demand growth of 3%. By 2030, data centres are expected to account for nearly 3% of global electricity demand.
In this context, energy security is non-negotiable. Growth will require balancing the power demands of the AI and a heating climate. This can only be achieved when energy systems transition to cleaner, more resilient, and decentralised models.
India’s Power Sector Update & Projections
India’s energy system is transitioning to a cleaner, greener, and more decentralised portfolio. We are now globally third in our total renewable energy installed capacity.
As of 31st March 2026, India’s installed generation capacity stood at 533 GW with clean and green sources contributing a 53% share. Solar leads the way with more than 150 GW installed capacity, followed by wind. In the fiscal year, over 95% of the capacity added was clean and green. Solar additions, made up nearly 80% of additions in the year.
By 2030, the total installed capacity is expected to grow to 770 GW with clean & green capacity comprising 64% of the capacity. This will require investments in battery and pumped storage projects. India’s transmission network is also expected to grow from 5 lakh circuit kilometres to 6 lakh circuit kilometres by 2030.
Solar rooftop adoption under PM Surya Ghar Yojana is on the rise. As of FY26, cumulative rooftop installations had a capacity of ~26 GW. This is expected to grow to 65 GW by 2030.
This is a time of growth for the sector.
