# Is India's electricity going green? > Coal still dominates at 70.8%, but solar and wind are growing fast. Here's the data on India's electricity transition. **Is India's electricity going green? Yes, but slowly: renewables at 24.1%** India's electricity grid is getting cleaner, but the shift is gradual. In 2025, renewables made up 24.1% of generation, according to OWID. Coal still accounted for 70.8% (Ember). Per person CO2 emissions have risen from near zero in 1858 to 2.2 tonnes in 2024. Electricity demand has nearly quadrupled since 2000, reaching 2,082.82 TWh in 2025. Carbon intensity has fallen from 740 to 670 gCO2/kWh over the same period. Clean generation, including nuclear, reached 554.81 TWh in 2025, but fossil fuels generated 1,526.79 TWh. The gap is narrowing but large. Solar and wind are the fastest-growing sources, but coal remains king. The data shows progress, but the pace needs to accelerate to meet climate goals. ## How much of India's electricity comes from coal? Start with the biggest fact. In 2025, coal generated 1,474.15 TWh of India's electricity. That is 70.82% of total generation, according to Ember. To understand that number, you need to know what a TWh is. A terawatt hour (TWh) is a unit of energy equal to one billion kilowatt-hours. Think of it as enough electricity to power 100 million LED bulbs for a year. Coal's share has been around 70% for many years. That is the problem: the grid is still mostly coal. The chart shows coal's share over time, and it has stayed stubbornly high. Why? Because as demand grew, coal expanded to meet it. The one visible pattern in this data is that coal's share dipped slightly in the 2010s when renewables started growing, but then recovered as demand surged again. ## How have India's CO₂ emissions per person changed? Now, why does coal matter? Because burning it releases CO₂. India's CO₂ emissions per person have gone from essentially zero in 1858 (0 tonnes) to 2.2 tonnes in 2024, according to OWID. That is an almost unimaginable rise. Per person means the total CO₂ divided by the population. So each Indian on average is responsible for 2.2 tonnes of CO₂ per year. Not all of that comes from electricity, transport and industry also contribute. But electricity is a big part. The trend line in the chart shoots up sharply after 2000. That is when India's economy and power use took off. Rising emissions make the case for cleaner electricity urgent. The chart shows the long view: from near-zero for centuries to a sharp climb in recent decades. ## What is renewables' share of India's electricity? So, how much of our electricity comes from renewables? In 2025, renewables made up 24.1%, according to OWID. That number includes hydro, solar, wind, biomass, and other renewables. In 1985, it was 27.8%. So the share today is actually lower than 40 years ago. Why? Because hydro's share has shrunk as coal grew. But since 2000, renewables have been climbing again, driven by solar and wind. The chart shows a dip in the 1990s and a steady rise after 2000. This is the direct answer to whether India is going green: yes, but the share is still modest and has not yet surpassed the peak of the mid-1980s. The one visible pattern is that the share fell for two decades before recovering, meaning the current green push is essentially catching up to where we were. ## How does India generate its electricity, by source? Looking at absolute generation tells a fuller story. In 2025, clean sources (including nuclear) generated 554.81 TWh. Fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) generated 1,526.79 TWh. Clean includes hydro, solar, wind, nuclear, and bioenergy. The chart shows each source's generation over time. Clean generation is growing steadily. Fossil generation is also growing, but more slowly in recent years. Coal alone is 1,474.15 TWh. Clean is 554.81 TWh. So clean is not replacing fossil; it is adding to total supply. The transition is happening, but it is an addition, not a replacement. The chart shows that both lines are rising, but clean is rising faster after 2015. ## Are solar and wind India's fastest-growing power sources? Within clean, solar and wind are the stars. They have grown from almost nothing to a significant share. In 2025, clean generation (which includes nuclear and hydro, but solar and wind are the main drivers) was 554.81 TWh. The chart shows the steep upward slope of solar and wind lines, especially after 2015. Their growth rate is much faster than any other source. But they started from a tiny base. So while they are growing fast, they are still small compared to coal. The chart makes this clear: the lines for solar and wind are rising sharply, but they are still far below the coal line. The one visible pattern is that solar's growth has been explosive in the last decade, driven by falling costs and government targets. ## Is clean energy catching up to fossil fuels? The race between clean and fossil is the key dynamic. In 2025, clean generation was 554.81 TWh; fossil was 1,526.79 TWh. The gap is 972 TWh. That is huge. But look at the trend: clean grew faster than fossil in recent years. The chart shows clean's line rising steeply, while fossil's line is flatter. In percentage terms, clean is growing faster. But in absolute terms, the gap is still enormous. For clean to catch up, it would need to grow much faster. The chart is a visual of the race. It shows progress but also the distance still to go. The related trend is that fossil generation plateaued after 2019, while clean continued rising, suggesting the gap may start narrowing faster. ## Where did India's power come from last year? Let's look at the latest snapshot. In 2025, the mix was: coal 70.82%, clean 26.65% (hydro 8.55%, nuclear 2.59%, bioenergy 1.11%, with solar and wind included in clean), gas 2.33%, net imports 0.06%. The stacked bar chart shows each source's share. Coal dominates. Hydro is the second largest single source at 8.55%. Solar and wind together make up the rest of clean. The chart is a quick visual of the current reality: coal is king, but there is a growing patchwork of other sources. One visible detail is that gas and nuclear are roughly equal in size, each around 2.5%, highlighting that the non-coal, non-hydro sources are still small. ## How fast is India's electricity demand growing? The big challenge: demand is growing very fast. In 2000, India's electricity demand was 572.69 TWh. By 2025, it had reached 2,082.82 TWh, nearly quadruple. Per person, demand went from 0.54 MWh to 1.42 MWh. That means every additional person and every new factory needs power. The chart shows a steady upward line. Demand growth means that even if clean generation grows rapidly, coal may still need to increase to meet total needs. The pressure on the grid is immense. This is why the transition is hard: you have to build clean capacity fast enough to cover new demand and eventually replace existing coal. The chart's steep slope after 2010 shows the acceleration. ## How dirty is each unit of India's electricity? Finally, let's look at the cleanliness per unit. Carbon intensity measures how many grams of CO2 are emitted per kilowatt-hour of electricity. In 2000, India's intensity was 740.04 gCO2/kWh. By 2025, it had fallen to 670.13 gCO2/kWh. That is a drop of about 9.4%. The chart shows a downward trend, especially after 2010. This means each unit of electricity is getting cleaner. But the intensity is still high because coal dominates. The decline shows progress, but total emissions keep rising because total generation grows. The chart is a good news story per unit, but the overall picture is more complex. One visible pattern is that intensity fell faster in the last five years, likely due to solar additions. ## Sources - Renewables share data (OWID) covers 1985-2025 for India. - Electricity generation by source, demand, and carbon intensity data (Ember) covers 2000-2025 for India. - CO2 emissions per capita data (OWID) covers 1858-2024 for India. - Ember's 'clean' category includes nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, bioenergy, and other renewables. - OWID's 'renewables' includes hydro, solar, wind, biomass, and other renewables but excludes nuclear. --- Source: [This Indian Life](https://thisindianlife.today/articles/is-indias-electricity-going-green/) · Updated 2026-06-01. Licensed CC BY 4.0. Please cite as "This Indian Life — https://thisindianlife.today".