Telangana Missing From Top Solar States List Even As India Adds 5,000 MW Floating Solar Push

Hyderabad: Telangana remains outside the list of beneficiaries of the Centre's Solar Parks Scheme (SPS) even as India expands its solar capacity with new initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY), approved on July 31, for 5,000 MW of floating solar projects.

The SPS has sanctioned 54 parks across 13 states with a combined capacity of 39.1 GW (1,000 megawatts is a gigawatt). Rajasthan and Gujarat lead with 27.3 GW and 17.5 GW, respectively, while Andhra Pradesh has secured five parks with a capacity of 4.2 GW.

Telangana, despite having around 5 GW of installed solar capacity as of October 2025, was not among the leading states.

"Telangana has strong solar irradiation and a proven track record in renewable energy, but regulatory bottlenecks, Discom's resistance to open access, and delays in land allocation and approvals have slowed momentum in recent years," said Dr Ravi Shankar, an energy policy analyst.

"With the Centre now pushing floating solar on reservoirs, Telangana must act quickly to leverage its large water bodies like the Sriramsagar and Nagarjunasagar, or risk falling further behind peers like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka."

It is based on an assessment by the National Institute of Solar Energy, which estimates a floating solar potential of 102.18 GWp across the country. The projects are expected to reduce about 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually and generate up to 17,000 jobs.

Other Central initiatives, including PM Surya Ghar and PM-KUSUM, have expanded distributed solar adoption, covering over 43 lakh households and more than 21.77 lakh farmers respectively.

With Telangana recording the lowest clean energy capacity addition among southern states over the past five years, its ability to utilise the floating solar push will determine its position relative to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.