The gap between summer and winter peak electricity demand in India is shrinking — a sign of dangerous global warming.

Vinay Pabba, CEO of renewable energy company Vibrant Energy, says in his LinkedIn post that the peak winter demand is almost the same as the peak summer demand registered on June 10, 2025 — 242 GW. “This has never happened in the past,” he observes, adding that in the past, the gap between winter and summer peak demand has been substantial.

Data cited by Pabba shows that in the five years between 2021 and 2025, the summer peak demand has been higher than winter peak by 11,144 MW, 15,051 MW, 29,651 MW, 26,042 MW and 8,800 MW.

If January peak demand grows further, 2025-26 will be a notable year where the winter peak demand actually exceeds summer peak demand. “If this is not a ‘red flag’ for climate change, what is?” says Pabba.

More work needed to drive adoption of rooftop solar

The Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana has added 4.9 GW within a year of its launch. Before PMSGY, rooftop solar uptake in India was largely limited to commercial and industrial consumers. For households, factors such as high upfront costs, complex processes, and low awareness acted as barriers.

However, many hurdles still remain in the implementation of the scheme, which, if addressed, could boost rooftop solar adoption, says an analysis of the Institute for Energy, Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

Just 22.7 per cent of applications have translated into completed projects, it says, “reflecting bottlenecks in financing, vendor capacity, and approvals”. Furthermore, with only about 13 per cent of the targeted installations completed so far, the road to one crore solar homes remains long, says IEEFA. It notes that low consumer awareness about the scheme, difficulties in loan access, delays in approvals and subsidy disbursals, supply constraints under the ‘domestic content requirement’ policy and portal glitches are hampering rapid adoption.

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Published on January 5, 2026