India’s corporate renewable market is benefitting from strong growth drivers in the form of rising RPO target, ambitious decarbonisation agenda and attractive cost saving potential. But while corporates account for 50% of total power consumption in the country, their direct procurement accounts for only 27% share of renewable power capacity.

Figure: Total renewable power capacity split by consumer category, December 2022

Source: BRIDGE TO INDIA research

While open access and rooftop solar are the two dominant procurement routes for corporate consumers, other routes like VPPAs, green exchange, renewable energy certificates (RECs) and green tariffs are also gaining more popularity. However, all these routes face several policy and economic challenges – denial of project approvals, high cost, lack of banking facility, uncertainty in grid charge structure, recurring policy changes, regulatory disputes and limited market liquidity. This report examines each procurement route, growth opportunity and challenges faced by consumers. It also includes policy recommendations at central government level and state level for Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to enable faster growth of the corporate renewable market.

Table: Summary of policy recommendations