In 2014, India unilaterally announced plans to quadruple Renewable Energy (RE) to 175 GW by 2022, an ambitious target that required an annual growth (CAGR) of over 25 percent. Since then, growth has exploded, especially for grid-scale solar power, which is meant to be 100 of the 175 GW RE targeted.

Until recently, RE was a limited if not a fringe player—even in FY2017 its share of overall generation was only 6.7 percent at a gross level, but the share is rising rapidly. Per targets, this would reach over 19 percent of total demand by 2022.  Despite this growth, and the high targets India has set its sights on, a previous Brookings research report points out that there are significant political and economic contradictions that may hinder these dreams from turning into a reality.  This paper examines grid integration as a subset of challenges for scaling RE, with financing, contracting, regulation, market design, technology risks, etc. as other issues that will impact the growth trajectory.