The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has invited proposals to accelerate adoption of concentrating solar thermal (CST) technologies for industrial heating, aiming to reduce fossil-fuel consumption and develop commercially viable green-heat solutions. The call has been issued under the Renewable Energy Research and Technology Development (RE-RTD) programme and targets pilot demonstrations that integrate solar thermal systems with thermal energy storage and hybrid arrangements to provide reliable process heat. The ministry will provide partial capital expenditure support of up to 50 per cent and a maximum of Rs20 million (Rs20 mn) per project as per the funding pattern.

The programme will prioritise commercially viable and scalable solutions and demonstration of integration with existing industrial processes, and pilot projects are expected to establish technical feasibility, economic viability, scalability and replicability. Selected developers will be responsible for site assessment, technology selection, design, installation and commissioning and for operating and maintaining systems for a minimum of five years. The industry host will provide the site, operational data, necessary approvals and its share of project cost while MNRE will select and approve projects and monitor performance against stated objectives.

Technologies covered under the call include parabolic trough systems, linear Fresnel reflectors, parabolic dishes, power towers and solar photovoltaic systems coupled with heat pumps, as well as CST systems integrated with thermal energy storage to enable continuous process heat during non-sunshine hours. Indicative temperature ranges vary by technology, with parabolic trough systems from 60°C to 400°C, linear Fresnel systems about 60°C to 250°C, parabolic dish systems between 100°C and 500°C and power tower systems from 150°C to 600°C, while some industrial processes may require temperatures up to 1,800°C. The document identifies applications such as cleaning, drying, evaporation, distillation, pasteurisation, sterilisation, cooking, process heating, boiler-feed water heating and cooling.

The ministry has listed a broad set of industrial sectors as potential users of CST-based heat solutions, including automotive, breweries, cement, ceramics, chemicals, dairy, food processing, glass, iron and steel, leather and footwear, non-ferrous metals, petroleum refineries, pharmaceuticals, plastics and polymers, pulp and paper, rubber, textile dyeing and hospitality. Selection of industrial clusters for pilot demonstration will be based on process type and temperature, thermal energy demand, current fossil-fuel consumption, potential for substitution, local solar resource availability and overall techno-economic feasibility. Pilot projects will be implemented to assess technical performance, reliability, integration with existing heating systems, fossil-fuel displacement and economic viability for wider replication.

Proposals can be submitted online through the MNRE research portal and the submission window opened on eight September 2026 and closes on seven October 2026. Assistance may be provided in the form of viability gap funding depending on project requirements and potential for adoption, and successful demonstrations will be documented to develop design and operating guidelines and replicable business models. MNRE will select and approve pilot projects and expects the programme to create pathways for wider commercial deployment of CST-based green heat solutions.