Will East Be India’s Next Renewable Energy Frontier? Workshop Highlights Odisha Story

Odisha has developed elaborate plans for developing renewable energy with an aim of revamping the energy generation and transmission in the state. With the Odisha Renewable Energy Policy 2022 and setting an ambitious target of 10.95 GW of RE capacity by 2030, the state has emerged as a frontrunner for RE development. 

Nearly 2 GW of projects have already been approved, with several large-scale developments in advanced stages. With an ambitious plan of establishing Floating Solar PV Power Projects on Water Bodies 2025, Odisha has formulated new guidelines aiming to be one of the country’s most forward-looking frameworks for water-based solar deployment. 

Workshop For Journalists With Field Visits

A media workshop in Bhubaneswar held on11^th-12^th December, highlighted Odisha’s RE plan. The workshop also arranged field visits for the journalists from across the country to some important places of RE experimentation and implementation.

The media workshop was organised by iForest (International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology) and GRIDCO, the nodal agency of Odisha’s RE plans. 

Officials from GRIDCO and experts highlighted Odisha’s RE plans, the ongoing experiments and the challenges. The participant journalists were taken to OUAT (Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology), where experiments are going on to produce electricity by solar panels with pineapple saplings beneath. The OUAT pilot project experiments with how solar projects and agriculture can co-exist. 

The other point of visit was CV Raman University, where an EV charging station has been developed with solar panels. The developers have claimed that an EV can be fully charged within half an hour in the facility. 

The field visit also hadthe  Tata Steel plant at Kalinganagar in the itinerary. The workshop attendees, along with iForest and GRIDCO officials, visited the floating solar panels installed in one of the plant’s big ponds. 

RE In India

India’s renewable energy (RE) sector is entering a decisive phase. With nearly 200 GW of installed RE capacity, the country is steadily progressing toward its 500 GW target by 2030. Over the longer term, India will require an estimated 7,000 GW of clean energy capacity to achieve Net Zero by 2070.

However, India’s RE growth is currently concentrated in just seven states—Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh—which together account for 86% of installed capacity. This imbalance stems from:

* National RE strategy historically favouring high-radiation, wasteland, land-rich states

* Limited assessment and recognition of RE potential outside these regions

* A weaker investment push in several states despite strong underlying opportunities

As India enters the next phase of its energy transition, diversifying the geographic footprint of renewable energy is critical to improving system efficiency, optimising grid investments, strengthening state-level energy security, reducing transition-related vulnerabilities, and ensuring a more inclusive and balanced development pathway.

The Promise of the East

Research by iFOREST shows that Eastern India—Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal—holds vast, underutilised renewable energy potential across solar, floating solar, agri-PV, rooftop solar and pumped storage. The region combines natural resource strengths with expanding industrial demand, growing transmission capacity and major water assets.

This potential is particularly strong in Floating Solar (FSPV), Agri-PV as well as Rooftop Solar.

A Land-Neutral Pathway

The East faces dense settlements, forest cover, and competing land uses. Prioritising land-neutral technologies such as floating solar, rooftop solar, agri-PV and pumped storage—solutions that minimise land conflict and leverage existing assets - are the way forward.

Across the region, several states have begun signalling intent, with Assam prioritising rooftop solar implementation under PM-SGMBY, and Jharkhand and Odisha focusing on floating solar development.

Also Read: Assam Can Generate 1.8 Lakh Jobs via Solar Rooftop: iFOREST Report