Transmission – The Silent Bottleneck That Threatens India’s Energy Transition

While I have used solar and wind projects to frame much of this discussion, let me be clear — I do not believe that renewables alone will solve all of India’s energy challenges. However, the focus here is on a different problem: we are pouring massive amounts of financial resources into building these solar parks and wind farms, but ironically, we are wasting even more by failing to invest adequately in the transmission infrastructure needed to evacuate and deliver the electricity they produce. Without fixing this critical gap, much of our clean energy capacity risks sitting idle, undermining both our climate goals and economic efficiency.

India, like much of the world, stands at the threshold of a historic transformation—a shift from fossil fuels to clean energy that could reshape our economy, improve our air, reduce our dependence on imports, and help us combat climate change. In 2025 alone, the world will invest $3.3 trillion into energy, with nearly two-thirds of that—about $2.2 trillion—flowing into clean technologies such as solar power, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. India is a key participant in this global wave, with ambitious targets to reach 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.

Yet, as we celebrate solar parks rising in Rajasthan and wind farms spinning along the Gujarat coastline, there is a quiet crisis brewing beneath the surface of this transition. One that risks bringing this green revolution to a grinding halt: the woeful underinvestment in our electricity grid infrastructure.

The Gridlock in the Age of Electricity

The International Energy Agency (IEA) rightly calls this moment “the age of electricity.” But unlike the fossil fuel era, where power plants could be built close to consumption centres, renewable energy comes with an inconvenient reality: its sources are geographically fixed. The sun shines brightest in Rajasthan’s deserts; the strongest winds blow across remote coastal plains. Unfortunately, these are often hundreds of kilometres away from the high-demand centres of Delhi, Mumbai, or Bengaluru.

And so, the clean energy revolution hinges not merely on generating electricity but on transporting it. This requires extensive transmission infrastructure—power lines, transformers, substations, and grid-balancing mechanisms—that can carry electricity from remote solar and wind farms to urban households and industries. Without this “electricity highway,” even fully operational renewable energy projects remain stranded assets.

According to the IEA, the world needs to double its entire grid infrastructure by 2040, adding 80 million kilometres of new transmission lines globally. For India, the scale is similarly daunting. Already, Business Standard reports that 40 transmission projects, representing 60 GW of renewable capacity, are awaiting grid connectivity approval. These are not distant targets; these are projects that exist but cannot deliver power simply because there’s no line to carry the electricity.

Timing Mismatches and Policy Blind Spots

Unlike solar farms that can come up within 1–3 years, transmission projects often take 5–15 years to complete, given the complexities of land acquisition, environmental clearances, inter-governmental coordination, and difficult terrains. In India, these challenges are amplified by bureaucratic fragmentation: while power generation often falls under state authorities or private developers, transmission is overseen by different central agencies. The result is a dangerous mismatch between generation capacity and transmission availability.

Worryingly, recent regulatory amendments have unintentionally disincentivized forward-looking grid development. Transmission companies now risk lower compensation if their infrastructure is ready but not immediately utilized. This discourages proactive investments that would anticipate future renewable projects—exactly the kind of planning that India’s energy transition urgently needs.

The Global Supply Chain Squeeze

This grid bottleneck is not just an Indian problem; it is emerging as a global crisis. Worldwide shortages of transformers—critical to stepping electricity up or down to different voltages—are delaying projects for years. Lead times for transformers can now exceed four years, with prices up 75% since 2018. Similar shortages plague cable manufacturing, switchgear, and specialized equipment.

The global transformer market itself is highly concentrated, with just a handful of countries—China, South Korea, Turkey, and Italy—dominating supply. India’s dependence on these external supply chains introduces fresh vulnerabilities that could derail timelines for crucial projects.

Add to this a global shortage of skilled workers. The IEA estimates that an additional 1.5 million skilled personnel are needed worldwide by 2030 just to meet grid expansion goals. India’s human capital development in this space remains nascent, with training programs struggling to keep up with demand.

Batteries: A Partial Answer, Not a Cure

Grid-scale batteries are often touted as a solution to renewable intermittency. Indeed, global battery storage investment is surging, expected to hit $66 billion in 2025. These systems allow excess solar power to be stored when the sun shines, and dispatched when it doesn’t. But batteries are not immune to grid challenges either. Without transmission infrastructure, even the most advanced battery farms cannot deliver stored electricity to consumers.

The Hard Truth: Generation Is No Longer The Bottleneck

For years, the global debate around clean energy focused on generation—how fast we could build solar, wind, and other renewable sources. Today, that constraint has shifted. The real bottleneck is transmission. Without an extensive, resilient, and flexible grid, all the solar panels and wind turbines in the world will remain idle.

The Indian government has recognized this challenge through initiatives like the Green Energy Corridor, which targets ₹20,000 crore (~$2.6 billion) of transmission investment. But this is only a fraction of what’s required. The IEA estimates that globally, we need to invest about $3.1 trillion into grid infrastructure by 2030 to keep global warming within 1.8°C. For India alone, grid investments must scale up several-fold from current levels.

The Path Forward

If India is serious about its climate commitments, energy security, and economic growth, it must elevate transmission planning to the highest policy priority. This includes:

• Integrated planning: Synchronizing power generation, transmission, and distribution planning across central and state agencies.
• Reforming incentive structures: Encouraging early grid build-out by removing penalties for underutilized but future-ready infrastructure.
• Domestic manufacturing: Building local capacity for transformers, cables, and specialized grid components to reduce dependence on volatile global supply chains.
• Human capital investment: Rapidly expanding training programs to create a skilled workforce for transmission construction, operation, and maintenance.

India is poised to lead the global energy transition. But unless we urgently fix our grid infrastructure, we risk turning today’s opportunity into tomorrow’s stranded investment. The age of electricity demands not just generation, but delivery—and that delivery system must be built now.

Reference:

1. International Energy Agency (IEA), World Energy Investment 2025 Report
2. IEA, Electricity Grids and Secure Energy Transitions Report (2023)
3. Ministry of Power, Government of India — Green Energy Corridor (GEC) Scheme
4. Transformer Market Data — Bloomberg / IEA / GlobalData (2023)
5. Renewable Project Backlogs — Global Data (Europe, US)