Assessing The Indo-German Partnership For Energy Security Through Renewable Energies

Policy Update

Ameya Satam

Introduction:

India is the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, which is one of the main reasons for climate change. To mitigate these emissions, India aims to achieve Net zero by the year 2070. To complete this long journey, Germany is supporting India through technology cooperation and sustainable development projects. The Green and Sustainable Development Partnership (GSDP) was formed in 2022 to achieve these objectives. Under this partnership, Germany has committed €10 billion in climate finance to India by 2030 in the form of soft loans via the KfW Development Bank, most of which has been disbursed by Germany since 2022 (Pfänder, 2025).

Recently, on 18 June 2026, to boost India and Germany’s cooperation in the Green and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy had co-organised a panel discussion on “Energy Security through Renewable Energies” under the 10th edition of the GSDP Conversation Series. Shri Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), His Excellency (H.E.) Dr Philipp Ackermann, Ambassador of Germany to India and Bhutan, Ms Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Co-founder and Chairperson of Sustainability, ReNew, and Ms Aparna Roy, Fellow and Lead, Climate Change and Energy, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), attended this panel discussion (Press Information Bureau, 2026). Ms Shreya Jai, Energy Lead from Climate Trends, managed this panel discussion (Press Information Bureau, 2026).

Ongoing Works with Germany:

Solar Energy

Bilateral collaboration in the solar energy sector yields significant environmental dividends, with ongoing projects projected to mitigate annual carbon emissions by approximately 6 million tonnes (Pfänder, 2025). Concessional financing via the KfW Development Bank enables the deployment of large-scale solar arrays in arid, sparsely populated topographies. Beyond environmental remediation—manifested in water-minimal panel-cleaning technologies—these initiatives advance rural-urban equity. Capital allocation in remote regions provides decentralized clean energy access while generating localized employment, demonstrating a structural commitment to inclusive energy transitions rather than localized urban development alone.

Modern Waste Management

Unchecked urbanization continues to strain India’s municipal infrastructure, constraining public services like water supply, sewage, and waste disposal while driving up greenhouse gas emissions. In response, the 2023 climate protection program targets the Mumbai Metropolitan Region by anchoring combined waste management within a circular economy framework. KfW’s investment of over ₹8.5 billion in green corridors, recycling facilities, and solid waste systems transforms urban liabilities into assets. By utilizing municipal waste for localized renewable energy generation—such as biogas and biomethane—this model enhances urban climate resilience and establishes a scalable framework for municipal self-reliance.

New Metro Line

Decoupling urban growth from vehicular emissions remains a cornerstone of the partnership’s green urban mobility strategy. The expansion of the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro line, currently supporting 120,000 daily passengers with a projected scale to 330,000 over three decades, serves as an active alternative to carbon-intensive road transit (Pfänder, 2025). Similarly, Bengaluru’s developing 150-kilometer rapid-transport rail system integrates multi-modal mass transit, reducing commuter friction across metro networks, buses, and intercity lines (KfW Development Bank, 2025).

The project’s newly inaugurated 19-kilometer Yellow Line phase is projected to abate up to 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually while mitigating regional particulate matter. By certifying all 58 stations as “green buildings” equipped with photovoltaic roofs and thermal insulation, the project provides a scalable template for transit-oriented, climate-resilient smart cities that optimize both ecological footprints and multi-modal efficiency.

Latest Developments:

As per the panel discussion, the imminent deployment of Agri-PV and floating solar projects will introduce innovative frameworks for clean energy arrangements. The Indian government is aiming to build a future-ready renewable energy ecosystem through grid modernization, accurate forecasting and scheduling, circular economy approaches and increased utilization of climate finances. In the panel discussion, it was declared that India and Germany are currently going to collaborate in the fields of renewable energy deployment and manufacturing, battery storage, grid integration, energy efficiency, green urban mobility, climate change mitigation, sustainable urban development and vocational education.

Further, India and Germany may work collectively for promoting innovation, attracting investments and advancing common objectives related to climate action and sustainable development. The discussions also acknowledged the need to increase the renewable energy capacity, invest in energy storage technologies and renovate the electricity grids. The value of stronger public-private partnerships was recognized because these partnerships ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable energy supplies.

Importance:

The investments of Germany in solar energy projects is a push to India for becoming secured in the energy sector through renewable energies which would reduce reliance of India over fossil fuels and help India to achieve its climate neutrality goals. The modern waste management project in Mumbai which is funded by Germany is said to be working with the purpose of bringing renewable energy solutions along with waste management.

It is expected to produce useful biogas, biomethane, electricity, heat, landfill gas, synthetic gas, bio-oils and refuse derived fuels. Production of such clean energies in the future will be the result of investments by Germany which will help India to control carbon emissions and to manage waste. The Metro Line at Ahmedabad is dependent on a solar energy generation system which reduces carbon emissions in the environment and also reduces traffic congestions. German investments prove beneficial through such usages in sustainable projects of India.

Fig. No. 1.1: India’s renewable capacity grew 3.06x, expanding from 76.37 GW in 2014 to 233.99 GW in 2025. This growth provides a strong baseline for the Indo-German Green and Sustainable Development Partnership (GSDP) to advance grid modernization and climate finance toward Net Zero 2070. Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India, “The Solar Surge: India’s Bold Leap Toward a Net Zero Future” (August 2025).

As the H.E. Ambassador Dr Philipp Ackermann had highlighted in the panel discussion, India and Germany share an essential and common objective of gaining energy security, especially in the current geopolitical condition (Press Information Bureau, 2026). This statement has a deeper meaning that while Germany funds India in the development of the renewable energy sector, it looks at India as a future producer of renewable energy products and as a reliable partner who will help Germany if any energy crisis occurs again in the future, which may lessen the dependency of Germany on fossil fuels, and renewable energy may fulfill its needs.

Increasing independence in the energy sector has become a necessity in the present time because the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz has largely impacted all the countries, as every country was somewhat dependent on the non-renewable energy sources, which are majorly supplied from the Gulf countries, which use the Strait of Hormuz route for transporting these sources. The conflict created the scarcity of fossil fuels in the world, on which all the countries are dependent for fuel, cooking, etc. To avoid such situations in the future, energy security through renewable energy has become necessary for both countries. Today, solar energy can replace the requirement of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for cooking purposes.

In achieving the ‘Net Zero’ goal, solar, wind and energy storage will play a big role, in which Germany’s contribution will prove to be useful. To control the carbon emissions, renewable energy will majorly replace fossil fuels in all sectors. To evolve towards renewable energy more efficiently, India will have to pay attention to all aspects of generation, transmission, distribution, storage, financing, domestic manufacturing, localized energy solutions and electrification of energy-intensive sectors in a collective way.

Challenges:

India is 100% dependent on the import of critical minerals, which are necessary for developing renewable energy technologies (Sachdeva Michael, 2025). This condition creates vulnerabilities for India in supply disruptions, price variability and geopolitical risks.

Many distribution companies are affected financially because of hiking losses, unviable tariffs and unsystematic bill collection. Late payments to developers and uncertainty over power purchase agreements (PPAs), involving renegotiations or cancellations, are other problems that cause financial strains (Sachdeva Michael, 2025). Economic unfeasibility also restricts the developers from completing their infrastructure requirements, which endangers the usefulness of projects, especially when they are hybrid and energy storage projects. Regulatory hurdles are preventing developers from selling their projects successfully to the buyers, resulting in terminations under standard tender rules.

To successfully collaborate in green urban mobility, it is important for India to focus on controlling the population of petrol vehicles on roads, as the Electric Vehicles (EVs) and petrol vehicles together are capturing more road spaces, which is causing issues like traffic congestion, parking area shortages, etc. These problems should be resolved to produce more EVs through India and Germany’s collaboration. In Solar Energy, India faces challenges like –

Inaccurate site assessments; if old structures are selected as a site of installation then it may not bear the additional weight of solar panels.
Dust, shading & soiling losses; these issues are caused when the local climate patterns are ignored. The generation of energy is reduced due to heavy dusts settlement.
Poor solar panel placement & orientation; energy generation gets affected due to shading from trees, buildings, or poles and incorrect tilt and orientation can cause power losses.
Low quality equipment & counterfeit products; Using cheap and low quality parts to create the equipment is the main reason behind this.
Weak inverter performance & breakdowns; selecting wrong capacity inverter and improper ventilation are the reason for this problem.
Improper wiring & connection faults; safety can get compromised if poor grounding and galvanized earthing strips and flats are unreliable.
Lack of skilled technicians; loose connections connected by untrained people can cause power loss or short circuits.
Delays in permits & approvals; working with inexperienced companies in regulatory processes cause these problems.
Neglected inspections & servicing; selection of wrong capacity can cause inverter overload.
Ineffective monitoring & tracking; the solar panels get overheated due to bird droppings and pollution.

All these challenges create an image of India being inefficient in the field of solar power. Various types of challenges from these can be countered by providing proper training to the technicians and other professionals in the field. Delays in permits & approvals can be countered through creating new policies by the government to speed up the permit & approvals process.

Controlling the rising population of slums is necessary as they slow down the pace of the projects related to sustainable development, as well as causing more carbon emissions through the usage of traditional cooking fuels, inadequate waste management, etc. Lack of awareness in people about climate change creates difficulties in convincing people to adopt sustainable practices.

Currently, only 26 percent (ANI, 2026) of electricity is produced through renewable energy in India, which is less than required, as the climate is unpredictable and wind and solar energy are both dependent on the climate; this creates a shortage in power generation required for electricity. India doesn’t have enough battery storage capacity to generate power for electricity.

This disadvantage can be resolved by Germany and India’s collaborative creation of battery storage with long duration. It is projected that India will use only about 55 percent of coal for electricity by 2030, while by 2047 it will reduce to 27% (Press Information Bureau, 2025). So, to achieve these projections, India will have to rapidly start modernising its power grids to make them suitable for solar energy.

Given that the current German funding cycle under the GSDP concludes in 2030, India faces a narrow four-year window to accelerate project execution, as these projects should be able to give results after 2030 to achieve the goal of Net Zero by 2070. As per the recently launched NITI Aayog Pathway to Net Zero report, the major issue is not the availability of cleaner technology but the potential of the system to integrate, transmit, finance and utilize clean energy.

Conclusion:

As the Secretary of MNRE, Shri Santosh Kumar Sarangi, had highlighted in the panel discussion, achieving this remarkable progress in the Renewable Energy field was not easy without changing the policies. When the policies permitted 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment under the automatic route, it helped India to nourish its domestic manufacturing industries through initiatives such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme and the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), etc.

These policies encouraged foreign countries to invest in India, as these policies eased the processes for foreign companies to invest. Because of this, Germany took this opportunity to invest in India, especially in the renewable energy sector, and today, Germany has invested in various renewable energy-related projects. Funding from Germany through soft loans has played a very crucial role in the achievements of India in the Renewable Energy sector.

Educating people is important to convince them to adopt sustainable practices. It will ease the way to become secure in the energy sector through renewable energies. Training people for the renewable energies industry will allow India to produce better EVs, solar power plants, etc. Giving waivers to companies for building the required infrastructure may boost the growth of the renewable energy sector.

Working on the regulatory issues will benefit in easing the process for the developers to sell their projects, identifying the buyers before giving tender, fixing clear tariffs and invoking penalties on defaulters should be added in the regulatory process. It is necessary for India to work on creating strong supply chains as soon as possible to achieve the projected goals on time because dependency on other countries for critical minerals may cause delays in achieving those projected goals.

Today, the progress in the renewable energy sector that India has achieved is due to Germany’s commitment towards India, which boosted the speed of projects in India. India’s dream of becoming self-reliant in this sector can be completed only if it takes the necessary actions to strengthen its grip in this sector. Both countries’ strong bilateral relations over the last 75 years to the present time have eased India’s path. Mapping a long-term strategy with Germany for energy security through renewable energies will result in a beneficial move for India’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ and Germany’s vision of achieving ‘Climate Neutral by 2045’.

References:

Press Information Bureau. (2025, April 4). India’s coal boom: Production surpasses one billion tonnes. Ministry of Coal, Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2118788&reg=3&lang=2
Sachdeva Michael, S. (2025, February 12). What’s holding India back in its renewable energy transition? Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. https://ieefa.org/resources/whats-holding-india-back-its-renewable-energy-transition
KPI Green Energy. (2025, November 19). Top 10 solar installation problems in India and how to avoid them. KPI Green Energy Blog. https://www.kpigreenenergy.com/blog/solar-installation-problems-india
Kumar, R. (2026, May 11). Beyond EVs: Why India’s sustainable mobility future needs more than electric cars. TheCSRUniverse.

Pratap, R. M. (2026, June 19). India, Germany strengthen renewables partnership for energy security. NDTV. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/india-germany-strengthen-renewables-partnership-for-energy-security-11657145
Pfänder, C. (2025, March 21). A green alliance for the climate. Deutschland.de. https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/environment/climate-partnership-with-india
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ANI. (2026, June 19). India, Germany deepen renewable energy partnership to bolster energy security. ANI News. https://www.aninews.in/news/business/india-germany-deepen-renewable-energy-partnership-to-bolster-energy-security20260619170954/
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About the Contributor

Ameya Satam is a Research & Editorial Intern at IMPRI specializing in International Relations and Strategic Studies. He completed his post-graduation in International Relations at Sikkim University, focusing on Indo-Pacific geopolitics and India–US cooperation, and is dedicated to analyzing regional security frameworks to inform evidence-based policy discourse.

Acknowledgement

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Ms.Riddhi Suthar, Ms.Tanvi Nerurkar and IMPRI India for their guidance and support.

Reviewers

Ms.Riddhi Suthar and Ms.Tanvi Nerurkar

Disclaimer

All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.