IRENA: 'Electrification and renewables must accelerate dramatically'
Visual Credits: Canva
A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has warned that the clean energy transition is “off track”, reported BusinessGreen. IRENA’s World Energy Transition Outlook stated that despite record levels of renewables deployment and generation, the world is still “badly off track” to meet a clean energy transition in line with the 1.5C goal set under the Paris Agreement, it adds. The report states that renewable additions continue to set records in 2025, but grid enhancements fail to keep pace and energy demand keeps surging rapidly. The findings also show energy efficiency improvements remain significantly below the required rate and fail to offset the growing power demand, according to IRENA.
India wastes 4% of solar power amid power shortages in July, August, report shows
Nearly “1.8bn units of renewable electricity” went to waste in India in July and August this year, according to a new report, reported Reuters. The newswire adds that around 4% of total solar generation “could not be absorbed by the grid” in these months, “highlighting inadequate transmission infrastructure”. Reuters says the findings from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) “highlight a growing challenge for India as it expands renewable energy capacity to meet its clean energy targets of 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from the present 304 GW”.
India’s battery energy storage system requirement to rise nearly seven-fold to 236 GWh by FY2031-32: Rubix Data Sciences
India’s battery energy storage system (BESS) requirement may rise nearly seven-fold, from 34.72 GWh in FY2026-27 to 236.22 GWh by FY2031-32, as renewable energy penetration grows according to Rubix Data Sciences’ latest report on the BESS industry, PVMagazine reported.
The report, based on estimates by the National Electricity Plan 2022-32, also says that the investment requirement to meet this demand could reach INR 3.49 trillion by FY 2031-32.
India added 8.2 GWh of new BESS capacity between January and June 2026, compared to less than 100 MWh in the same period of 2025. As of August 2026, 9.08 GWh of BESS capacity was operational, 79.92 GWh under construction, 24.13 GWh awarded and 63.53 GWh under tendering, taking the total across these stages to 176.66 GWh, which is about 75% of the FY2031-32 requirement, the outlet said.
BESS share of the required storage power capacity is projected to rise from around 54% in FY2026-27 to 64% by FY2031-32, while its share of total energy storage requirements is expected to increase from approximately 42% to 57%. Over the same period, India’s overall energy storage requirement is projected to rise from 82.37 GWh to 411.4 GWh.
Gujarat and Rajasthan together account for nearly 88% of India’s installed utility-scale BESS capacity, with shares of 44.0% and 43.7% respectively, followed by Maharashtra at 5.1%, thr outlet said.
Trump moves to block fully approved offshore windfarms in the US
The Trump administration has asked a federal court to remand (send back) the approval of a wind project to the interior department, Bloomberg reported. Orsted AS’s Revolution Wind project began producing power off the coast of Rhode Island in March and now the interior department wants to “re-evaluate the wind farm’s permit to make sure it’s in compliance with a federal law governing energy development off the US coast, according to a court filing Friday”. Bloomberg said this is a potential setback for the renewables sector, following some progress in gaining “assurances the Trump administration would stop blocking some fully permitted wind and solar developments from moving ahead”.