India’s renewable energy industry is expanding rapidly, but the availability of job-ready talent has not kept pace with the sector’s growth, panelists said at the Mercom India Renewables Summit 2026.

Speaking at the session “Bridging the Renewable Energy Talent Gap: Aligning Academia with Industry Needs,” panelists said companies across solar manufacturing, project development, rooftop, and renewable energy services continue to face long training cycles, high attrition, and a shortage of practical skills among fresh graduates.

The session featured Raj Prabhu, CEO and Co-founder of Mercom Capital Group; Shishir Garemella, Head of International Business Development at Kiwa PVEL; Professor Juzer M. Vasi, Professor Emeritus, Department of Electrical Engineering and NCPRE, IIT Bombay; and Avinash Hiranandani, Vice President and Managing Director, RenewSys India.

Garemella said the discussion should focus on solutions that can be implemented and assessed. “Hopefully next year when we come back, some of the takeaways, let’s see how many of those we have really implemented as an industry,” he noted.

Prabhu mentioned that Mercom’s survey of 102 companies found close to 50% of new hires entering the renewable energy industry are poorly prepared for their roles. Most companies take three to 12 months to train employees before they become productive.

“This is a huge drag on the provider of services because you are paying someone a salary without them actually being ready,” Hiranandani said. “By the time they get ready, they probably leave the job and move somewhere else. So, these are the realities that we are dealing with.”

Panelists said the skill gap varies across segments. Developers need professionals with commercial, grid, and project execution capabilities. Manufacturing companies require workers who understand equipment, process discipline, and production environments. Rooftop EPC companies need practical skills in feasibility assessment, design, installation, and customer service.

Professor Vasi said academic institutions must expose students to practical learning much earlier. He said IIT Bombay has introduced initiatives such as tinkering labs, where students build and experiment before fully developing theoretical depth.

“Students should be much more exposed to the real world, being in the lab for longer durations, seeing things happening, doing things themselves,” Vasi said.

He said IIT Bombay’s first-year undergraduate program now includes a tinkering lab where students make things before they have complete theoretical grounding.

“The students go in, they start making things without the kind of theoretical background,” Vasi said. “This is a good pedagogical point. You learn better if you go theory first and then go to the lab, or the other way around. We are trying this out.”

Vasi said communication and soft skills should also be part of engineering education.

“We do have a communications course where it is not communication in the typical sense of electrical communication, but talking to each other, empathy and all the soft skills,” he said.

Prabhu said it typically takes three months for employees to build a basic understanding, and nearly 12 months for them to truly understand the sector, their roles, and how to service clients effectively.

“Soft skills are very important for us. Basic email writing and communication skills are not something many graduates come prepared with from educational institutions, but they are critical in our work,” Prabhu added.

Hiranandani said manufacturing companies face a particularly acute challenge because workers often lack exposure to photovoltaic production. RenewSys trains new workers through a combination of classroom instruction and shop-floor learning for 30 to 45 days.

“We have a college professor sitting with us and working for us in our company,” Hiranandani said. “Every new worker that comes in or junior engineer that comes in does theoretical classes in the morning, and then they go on to the machine and learn the practical part. We do that for about 30 to 45 days depending on the person.”

“We are putting our syllabus on our website, and we will be offering certification courses for JS1 and JS2,” Hiranandani said. “It will be entirely free for people to learn from different industries around the world. There are videos and testing videos.”

Hiranandani said the lack of trained personnel has operational consequences. “When we commissioned the cell line, there was nobody who could spell cell,” he said.

Photovoltaics is absolutely a new technology. Our people are learning,” he said.

Speaking about startups, Prabhu said, “There is a perception among many startups that having an idea and raising money is enough. But often, the basic research has not been done. They may not know their competitors, the market, or the actual pain points they are trying to solve.”

“There is a lot of enthusiasm among young people to start companies, but experience, research, and a basic understanding of what is needed before getting started are often missing.”

“Startups need to step back, think more deeply, and be better prepared. They must know their competition, understand the market, and identify where the real pain points are,” Prabhu noted.

Hiranandani said RenewSys regularly hosts student visits from IIT Bombay and other institutions. However, he said many students are increasingly interested in startups.

“Many times, the students ask me how much funds can be made available to us where we can start a new startup,” he said. “They are more interested in startups than taking up a job, especially at IITs.”

Garemella said service providers face a different kind of readiness gap. While deep technical expertise may not always be required, employees need time to understand the sector, client expectations, and professional communication.

Panelists agreed that online learning can help, but only when it is integrated into formal coursework and evaluated. Vasi said videos and online content can complement theory, but project-based courses and hands-on learning remain essential.

“Some informational material can be gained online, but it should still be part of the course and therefore evaluated as part of that,” Vasi said.

“When I mentioned self-learning, what I really meant was project-based courses,” he said. “It could be a part of the course, or separate courses which are purely projects.”

The discussion also highlighted the need for stronger industry-academia collaboration in research. Vasi proposed industry-led R&D consortiums to align academic work with near-term industry challenges and India-specific operating conditions, adding that institutions and faculty members are open to such collaboration.

Raj Prabhu said the consortium was a good idea. He said we can work toward a consortium-based approach to help academia better understand industry requirements and align its curriculum and R&D priorities accordingly.

Vasi said institutions and faculty members are willing to collaborate.

Panelists said India also needs standards that reflect local realities such as heat, humidity, pollution, and bird droppings, rather than relying only on benchmarks developed for temperate climates.

The panel also discussed workplace culture and retention. Garemella said India must look beyond salary and recognize how working conditions influence the ability to retain talent.

“Longer working hours, lesser salaries, transportation difficulties, especially in Bombay, reaching office and getting home is a big challenge,” Hiranandani said. “People travel two hours one way to reach office and go back.”

Garemella said many of the applicants that we get are very strictly educated. They have a degree, but knowledge beyond that is very limited.

“Students need to expand beyond what they are learning in college. Many applicants we see have a degree, but their knowledge beyond that is very limited,” Prabhu said.

“Young people today have access to AI and a lot of technology, but the content they consume is not always relevant to their career path. They have access, but they are often looking at the wrong topics. They somehow have to realign and show some curiosity,” he said.

Speaking on the need for mentors, Hiranandani said, “My advice to students and young professionals is to find a mentor-someone they trust, someone successful in what they do and seek that person’s advice whenever possible.”

Vasi said renewable energy offers students not just a career opportunity but a chance to contribute to society.

“Solar and renewables are not only very exciting areas for you to choose a career, but also transformative not only for you but actually for the whole of society, and perhaps for humanity,” he said.

Garemella said purpose is becoming increasingly important for younger professionals.

“A lot of people are motivated by the purpose of the organization rather than just compensation. Within this country, we’ve seen organizations that have really inspired trust. People are willing to take a bullet in a hotel because they belong; they feel for the brand,” he added.

Panelists identified three immediate actions: creating more tinkering labs in industrial environments, exploring an industry-academia consortium, and encouraging mentorship for young professionals entering the renewable energy workforce.