Inside India’s Astonishing Solar Revolution | Kanika Chawla | TED

In 2014, India made a commitment to install 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2022. At the time that it made this commitment, it had an installed capacity of three gigawatts of solar power, so it was basically committing to doubling its solar capacity every 18 months.

The audacity of this commitment left the world divided.

The world's third-largest energy consumer and second-largest coal consumer was betting on solar.

And while many thought that this goal was unrealistic and overly ambitious, others, like me, thought it was all very exciting and potentially the opportunity of a lifetime.

As it turns out, I was right. And India reached this milestone in February 2025, becoming one of the first few countries in the world to do so, and simultaneously unlocking 90 billion dollars in investment and creating 300,000 new solar jobs.

(Applause) For India, the solar revolution has become something of a gift that keeps on giving.

It has catapulted India into a global climate leader, while boosting power supply in the country to end blackouts and brownouts for local communities.

This is why it is committed to keep going.

It is now working on a goal of 500 gigawatts of clean power by 2030, which basically means that in 2030, every second electron used in India, be it in a household, in industry or in transport, would come from a clean power source.

(Applause) To meet this solar revolution has been a beacon of hope, not just for the scale of the ambition, but for the motivation behind it.

India did not bet on solar for ideological reasons.

It bet on solar for economic ones. It was early to see what most of the world can see clearly today.