India’s green energy goals have a land paucity problem

Currently, there are at least 30 cases of land conflicts affecting about 41,000 people, impacting about 30,000 hectares of land with an investment of Rs 70,738 crore in limbo.

India has set an ambitious target in its renewable energy journey of achieving 500 GW from renewable energy sources and 50% of installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030. The objective of achieving a just energy transition through renewable energy resources clearly aligns with India’s domestic compulsions and global commitments.

However, it becomes imperative that the transition trajectory must be effectively integrated with India’s development process. One of the key challenges that the energy transition process encounters is acquiring land for renewable energy production, such as solar and wind, which are highly land-intensive. India is not only a land-deprived country, land availability is also constrained by pluralistic land ownership structures, land title disputes, access over common property resources, and displacement issues. This has been manifested in large-scale solar projects recently, as many solar and wind energy auction projects face the ‘Winner’s Curse problem’ due to poor commissioning of such projects, due to a paucity of land.

Despite the availability of renewable energy sources (solar and wind), we have not been able to harness their full potential due to resource constraints like the availability of land. As per the International Solar Energy (IEA) 2025 statistics, the global share of solar energy for electricity generation in 2025 stands at 8.3% while that of wind energy is 9.3%. This will be further increased to 16.1% in the case of solar energy and 13.4% for wind energy by 2030.

As per the Ember Global Electricity Review 2025, India generates 10.5% of its electricity from solar and wind energy, compared to 18% in China, 17.2% in the United States, and 28.6% in the European Union. The demand for setting up a solar park or a wind farm for generating electricity is enormous, and this poses immense pressures and challenges for policymakers. For instance, for one MW of solar power, 4-5 acres of land is required, whereas for generating one MW from a wind farm land requirement is between 2-40 acres.

The brewing concerns over land-use and the rights of the indigenous communities over land have been increasingly acting as roadblocks for setting up renewable energy projects. Due to a lack of a holistic approach and bringing in all stakeholders, there has been a rise in the number of conflicts around land and its use of common property resources, upon which the life and livelihood of communities are critical. As per Land Conflict Watch, which reports data on ongoing conflicts, there are 30 cases of ongoing land conflicts till April affecting 40,949 people related to the renewable energy sector. The magnitude of the conflict can be realised from the fact that 29,619 hectares of land have been impacted, and the total investment, which stands shattered because of these ongoing conflicts, is Rs 70,738 crore.

There are numerous instances where the land in question was mentioned as banjar (wasteland) in the revenue records. However, the claims by the government have been contested by the local communities as they have been using the land either for cultivation, grazing and rearing livestock. One such case that has received attention was in Riwadi village of Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan, where the government allocated 834 hectares of land to SBE Renewables Ten Project Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Adani Group. The land in question was a banjar land as per the revenue records to set up a 450 MW solar power plant, which stands juxtaposed to the petitioners' claim that the land in question was private khatedari lands and further arguments were put forth that it provided a natural flow of river water to the water bodies. Similarly, there have also been contestations by the indigenous and marginalised communities. The Charanka solar park, which was classified as Asia’s largest solar park, led to opposition by the indigenous Maldhari communities, who opposed its construction because it took away their grasslands.

A decentralised approach involving communities as one of the stakeholders in the renewable energy transition can help us to mitigate the trade-offs and transaction costs. Energy communities through open and democratic participation can be an effective solution to ensure sustainability. It is also important to remove the discrepancies in land records, which stand as a major roadblock in the implementation of projects. These can be brought in through technology and by bringing changes at the institutional level for better land management.

(Gaurika Chugh and Gopal K Sarangi are with the TERI School of Advanced Studies.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the authors' own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.