With renewable energy capacity expanding and tariffs already lower than those of conventional power, the next phase of India's energy transition will depend on a rapid expansion of transmission infrastructure to integrate green power into the grid, along with large-scale energy storage to ensure a stable and reliable electricity supply, stakeholders said at the Mint Sustainability Summit 2026.
While power distribution companies (Discoms) are eyeing reliable power and availability during the peak demand period, data centres are procuring round-the-clock power, investors are also looking at an integrated power portfolio including transmission, storage integration, ensuring dependable, clean electricity, Deepak Thakur, managing director and chief executive of Hinduja Renewables, said during a panel discussion on "Energy Transition 2.0: Green Power, Hydrogen & the New Energy Economy" at the fifth edition of the summit in Mumbai on 29 July,
“India is clearly moving from building renewable energy assets to building a dependable energy system. The next phase is fundamental. It will not be measured in gigawatts (GW), it will now be measured in terms of….can we deliver when customers actually need it? That being said, the projects which we are conceiving cannot be standalone solar and wind anymore; we have to talk about integrated portfolios. This has to combine generation, storage, forecasting and transmission.”
Noting that investors' viewpoints are also changing, Thakur said that investors are looking at project evacuation, storage integration, operating capability, and long-term reliability.
India needs greater transparency regarding delays in the addition of transmission capacity and the expansion of "behind-the-meter" battery storage systems installed at consumers' premises, such as those of PM Surya Ghar beneficiaries and commercial and industrial (C&I) users, according to Madhav Pai, CEO of WRI India.
'Behind-the-meter' installation of battery storage would help add 20% of the required battery energy capacity in the country, he said, while adding that digital transformation is key to 'behind-the-meter' installation.
“It's very clear that the grid is going to lag 40-50GW behind what we generate…To reduce this 40-50GW gap between generation capacity and transmission ability, I think just being able to make this information much more transparent, much more visible… can get the right attention to accelerate it,” Pai said, while adding that the added cost may have to be allocated in “socially responsible ways” across the value chain.
Thakur, the CEO of Hinduja Renewables, however, was of the view that the additional cost would have to be borne by customers and market platforms would have to be developed through regulatory frameworks to support the emerging platforms, large-scale adoption of storage technologies and also ensure payment for these added costs.
Solar power generation capacity has increased significantly over the years. Currently, the country's installed renewable energy capacity stands at 288.59GW out of which 162.15GW is solar. Of the targeted 500GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030, solar is expected to account for around 300GW.
Concerns over grid capacity and the need for storage have come to the fore in the past two years amid instances of generation curtailment and power prices falling to zero or near-zero on several occasions on power exchanges due to higher solar power generation relative to market demand.
Discoms are increasingly offloading surplus green power on exchanges at prices well below procurement costs, typically more than â‚ą2 per unit for renewable power and over â‚ą3 per unit for firm and dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) and hybrid projects.
Speaking on the momentum of transition in sectors other than electricity, Derek M. Shah, MD & CEO of L&T Greentech, said that in sectors such as refineries and fertilizers, the efforts have already started towards the adoption of green hydrogen and green ammonia from the conventional feedstocks of grey hydrogen and natural gas.
“Beyond electricity, there are these chemical industries, oil and gas industries, fertilizers, refineries, mobility, and steel. There is a need to look into this. Transition is not only happening in the electricity sector…The decarbonization of refineries has started to happen. The oil marketing companies are coming up with their tenders to replace part of their grey to green hydrogen,” Shah said, while mentioning Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd's recent tender for green ammonia and the government's plans to bring a green methanol tender for the shipping industry.
Stressing the need for green energy, the L&T Greentech CEO said that green molecules, such as green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, are all dependent on renewable energy.
He was of the view that although concerns are raised over the cost of green hydrogen, the fact that these projects are developed for a longer supply period means that, he said, in the long run, these are bound to be viable, and in about four to five years, green molecules would become cheaper than grey molecules. Shah also pitched for norms mandating the use of indigenously developed electrolysers to ensure the domestic industry grows.