New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) India added a record 52,537 MW (520.51 GW) of generation capacity from all sources during FY26 (up to January 31), marking the highest ever capacity addition in a single year, surpassing the previous record of 34,054 MW achieved in FY25, the government has said.

The capacity addition included 39,657 MW from renewable energy with 34,955 MW of solar and 4,613 MW of wind capacity, lifting the total installed capacity to 520.51 GW, according to an official statement.

The government issued the backgrounder on India's power sector as the four‑day 'Bharat Electricity Summit 2026' opened on Thursday, bringing together policymakers, industry leaders, regulators, investors and civil society to discuss the energy transition and sectoral reforms.

"India's sustained growth in power generation capacity ensures that the country remains well-positioned to meet rising consumption needs while supporting economic momentum," the statement said.

India successfully met a peak power demand of 242.49 GW in FY26 and power shortage fell to 0.03 per cent till December 2025 from 4.2 per cent in FY14, the government said.

Measures have also been taken to strengthen the transmission and transformation backbone of the power system. New substations, upgraded transformers, and expanded high-capacity transmission corridors have been developed to move electricity efficiently from generation centres to load centres across states. These investments reduced bottlenecks, improved grid stability, and enabled smoother integration of diverse energy sources into the national grid.

Reliable electricity has also reduced reliance on diesel generation and traditional fuels, lowering costs and improving environmental outcomes.

India’s national transmission network, the world’s largest synchronous national grid has exceeded 5 lakh circuit kilometres and reached 1,407 gigavolt amperes (GVA) of transformation capacity, the statement noted.

Schemes such as the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and Saubhagya mobilised about Rs 1.85 lakh crore of investments, electrified 18,374 villages and around 2.86 crore households received electricity connections.

—IANS

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