Renewable energy just got promoted.
At the Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026, one line stopped the room cold.
"Renewable energy is no longer an alternative. It has, in fact, become the mainstream."
The man who said it isn't just anyone.
Ajay Mathur — professor of public policy at IIT Delhi, former DG of the International Solar Alliance.
He wasn't being poetic. He was reading the data.
India just crossed 288 GW of renewable capacity.
Solar alone: 150 GW.
Rooftop solar in the first half of 2026 alone? Up 104% year-on-year.
The target by 2030: 500 GW of non-fossil power.
This isn't a niche experiment anymore.
It's infrastructure.
For decades, climate conversations were about limits.
What we can't do.
How much we must cut.
Mathur says that era is over.
"You've moved from the language of limits… to the language of what we can do."
And India, he argues, isn't just riding this wave.
👉 It's the testing ground for the entire Global South.
If solar can scale in a price-sensitive market of 1.4 billion people, it can scale anywhere.
"When you see agricultural waste, don't see stubble burning. See bioenergy.
When you see urban congestion, don't see pollution. See the EV revolution."
That's not just optimism.
That's a full rebrand of the climate conversation.
Growth and sustainability were never supposed to be enemies.
Turns out, they might just be the same story.
That's all for now!
