The year 2025 was not defined by large capacity announcements or headline-grabbing launches. Rather, it was a significant period of correcting the path for the green transition in India. The spotlight was turned from the grand promises to the basic issues of execution, cost-effectiveness, and preparedness of the infrastructure. The actual event of the year was not in the announcements made, but was in the big and fundamental changes in the clean energy ecosystem that took place.
From standalone projects to integrated infrastructure
The year 2025 exhibited perhaps the largest change in thinking by abandoning the single-asset approach entirely. The conception of renewable projects as holistic infrastructural systems was born, which incorporated green hydrogen, green ammonia, carbon capture, desalination, logistics, and industrial offtake. These components had to collaborate; no longer were they able to operate separately.
Consequently, EPC contractors chose to focus on the projects’ actual deliverability rather than the initial statements, being open to the use of modular designs, project execution in phases, and quick commissioning methods. Ports, industrial clusters, and public-party enterprises, meanwhile, were recognised as the main locations where green development took place, thus substituting the former multiple and disconnected projects.
Where 2025 delivered tangible gains
Despite the limited scale of projects, 2025 reflected early signs of progress. Initiatives for green hydrogen, green ammonia, and carbon utilisation started to move beyond just conceptual discussions and pilot planning towards the very first steps of evaluation and preparatory execution. Even though this process is still very early, it is already a sign of the slow change from just doing experiments to finding out how these technologies could be used in real life, thus making the future commercial application, not full-scale deployment, the new focus.
The EPC and infrastructure companies showed a stronger willingness to commit their money to the acquisition of engineering, fabrication, and technology skills that would last in the coming years. The manufacturing done locally and the supply chains that are local are becoming more accepted; meanwhile, the dialogues among the ports, energy developers, and industrial offtakers have gotten better, thus allowing for more practical and integrated project planning.
Where the year fell short
Though the limitations were apparent. A lot of projects were still not commercially viable, the size of which was restricted by the cautious financing and the execution problems associated with them. The timelines of a project were lengthened by the issues concerning the availability of land, the limitations in sourcing water, the requirement to get environmental approvals, and the complexity that comes with the integration of multiple systems. The policy clarity became slightly better over the year, but it was not quick enough to the point of completely unlocking the large-scale investments or significantly reducing the risk for the first-of-their-kind infrastructures.
The key lesson from 2025
The main thing to learn from 2025 is that the transition to green energy is not limited any longer by ambition but rather by the ability to implement changes. The infrastructure’s readiness regarding fabrication, logistics, water management, storage, and integration was the actual bottleneck. Companies that had invested in engineering skills, partnerships, and execution systems right at the start were placed in a better position than those waiting for the most perfect regulatory situation.
What Will define the green agenda in 2026
When we look forward, 2026 is likely to be the year of scaling up rather than testing. The production of hydrogen and ammonia for commercial uses, the clean energy hubs tied to ports, and projects aimed at installing carbon capture in relation to real industrial applications will all be part of the new phase.
The EPC contracts will at one point in time be awarding more than ever before to those contractors who are able to give the fastest, most reliable, and most cost-efficient work. While 2025 has been the time for connecting, it is 2026 that will reveal who the major players are for large-scale building and who still has to get up to speed.
