The winners of the fifth annual Mercom India Awards have been announced.

These prestigious awards, presented to the winners by Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi at the ongoing Mercom India Renewables Summit 2025 in New Delhi, honor the exceptional contributions of organizations driving India’s clean energy transition through remarkable innovation and visionary leadership.

The awards recognize the uniqueness, challenges, and complexities of each project, as well as its economic and environmental impacts.

The fifth annual Mercom India Award winners are:

Rays Power Infra was declared the winner in the Best Large-Scale Solar Project category for its 260 MW project, which it developed for Serentica Renewables. This project achieved quick completion while maintaining high standards of cost efficiency, quality, safety, and environmental responsibility. From start to finish, the project was carefully planned and executed with a focus on operational excellence and sustainability.

Avaada Group was declared the winner in the Best Commercial and Industrial (Ground-Mount) Project category for the 97 MW group captive project for KMF Nandini. The project sets a precedent for integrating decentralized energy models into the cooperative sector, particularly in rural and agrarian communities. It has an annual generation capacity of approximately 160 million kWh and supplies enough green electricity to meet the cooperative’s operational needs, while also contributing surplus energy to the grid.

Tata Power Renewables was declared the winner in the Commercial and Industrial Project (Rooftop) category for its 6.5 MW rooftop solar project for Terminal 2 at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. To mitigate safety risks, advanced structural analyses and reinforced installations ensured the solar modules were securely mounted without impacting flight operations or passenger movement.

Solluz Energy was declared the winner in the Best Engineered Project category for a 185 kWp solar rooftop and BIPV system spread over 20,000 sq.ft., combined with an advanced net metering setup for Chimes. The system was highly customized to overcome the space limitations at the installation site. Solluz opted for an innovative approach by installing the solar panels on a vertical wall at a 90-degree angle.

Ciel & Terre bagged the Best Floating Solar Project award for its 120 MWp floating solar project at Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh. This is the largest floating solar project in India, built on the freshwater reservoir of the Omkareshwar Dam, which spans 210 acres, constituting 20% of the total 1,060-acre water area. A new anchoring technique called ‘Rock bolt anchoring’ to combat the hard rock surface was introduced. A customized floating invertor barge was also deployed on this project to withstand hard site conditions.

Comorin Solar was declared the winner in the Best Residential Project category for its 14 kW on-grid solar power system with net metering in Kerala. This waterfront-facing villa is designed and constructed as a net-zero concept, incorporating zero emissions, waste recycling, solar power, EV, organic farming, biogas plant, and more.

OMC Power won the Best Off-Grid Project award for its repurposed EV battery-based inverter solution tailored for rural energy access. This initiative combines deep off-grid experience with circular economy principles, addressing both the growing challenge of EV battery waste and the rural energy gap. After 18 months of R&D, involving in-depth testing of second-life lithium-ion batteries, mobile charging logistics, inverter design, and customer usage patterns, OMC Power introduced an innovative MPPT-based inverter system compatible with repurposed batteries.

AMPIN Energy Transition was declared the Best Hybrid Project category winner for its 59.7MWp solar wind hybrid project. This is the first project commissioned under the Gujarat Renewable Energy Policy 2023, setting a benchmark for future projects in the state. Adding to its distinction, it is also the only project in Gujarat to receive retrospective commissioning benefits effective from April 1, 2024, demonstrating strong regulatory alignment and proactive stakeholder engagement.

Newen Systems won the award for Best Standalone Storage Project for its 1 MW integrated DC-coupled microgrid with multi-source management for NTPC NETRA. This solution is among the first in India to dynamically orchestrate diverse energy sources and variable loads through intelligent control systems, maximizing green energy usage. Newen’s proprietary Micro Grid Controller and Energy Management System enable real-time, automated prioritization of energy sources based on the levelized cost of energy and sustainability targets.

Adani Green Energy won the award for the Best Wind Project for its 250 MW wind project at the world’s largest 30,000 MW renewable energy plant at Khavda, Gujarat. Adani Green also operationalized the Khavda renewable energy project, a 99 MW wind power plant, in FY25. The company deployed Wind Turbine Generators (WTG) of 5.2 MW capacity each, India’s largest and one of the world’s most powerful onshore WTG at Khavda.

Jio Platforms won the award for the Best Innovation (Product) category. Jio Platforms enabled the monitoring of approximately 200 GW of solar generation and transmission, contributing to the reduction of around 170 KT of carbon emissions. One of the standout features of this project, named Jio SunGenie, is its plug-and-play design, which facilitates quick installation and reduces deployment time and effort for both installers and end-users.

Waaree Energies and Premier Energies jointly won the Deal of the Year (Financial) award. Waaree Energies secured ₹43.21 billion (~$499.98 million) in an initial public offering (IPO) after garnering strong investor interest from both institutional and retail buyers. At the end of the bidding window on October 23, 2024, the issue was oversubscribed 76 times. Premier Energies secured a ₹28.30 billion (~$327.45 million) IPO after receiving an overwhelming response from various investor categories, with the issue subscribed over 74 times.

JSW Energy was announced as the winner in the Deal of the Year (Strategic) category. It entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 4,696 MW renewable energy platform from O2 Power Pooling for $1.46 billion. The acquisition includes O2 Power Midco Holdings and O2 Energy SG.