Google has announced five new initiatives in India to speed up clean energy adoption, improve climate-smart farming, and support the country’s growing climate-tech ecosystem. The projects combine artificial intelligence, satellite data and clean-energy investments.
One major announcement is the expansion of Google’s Solar API, which can now provide rooftop solar insights for more than 300 million buildings across India. The AI-powered tool helps solar installers assess a building’s solar potential remotely, reducing the need for physical surveys. Platforms such as Solar Ladder and OpenSolar are already using the technology to create rooftop layouts and customer proposals.
The company is also adding 150 MW of solar power to India’s grid through a long-term agreement with ReNew Power for a project in Rajasthan. This takes Google’s total contracted solar capacity with ReNew in India to 300 MW.
Another initiative focuses on rice farming in Telangana, where Google is partnering with Mitti Labs to help thousands of smallholder farmers reduce methane emissions and save water. The project will promote Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), a farming method that periodically drains rice fields instead of keeping them continuously flooded. Google said the project could help avoid nearly 3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over 20 years.
Google is also expanding the focus of its Google Center for Climate Technology, launched earlier this year with the Indian government’s Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser. New research areas will include water conservation and waste recycling, including work on e-waste and batteries.
The company is further backing India’s climate-tech startups through the Google DeepMind Accelerator: AI for the Planet. Its first Indian cohort includes startups such as Terrastack, Varaha Climate, Farmers for Forests, and Climitra Carbon, which are using AI, satellite imagery, and other technologies to address farming, biodiversity, and carbon-related challenges.
Together, the initiatives highlight how Google is using technology not just for digital growth, but also to support India’s transition towards cleaner energy and more sustainable development.
