India’s renewable energy sector is entering a new phase in which the focus is shifting beyond rapid additions of solar and wind capacity towards ensuring that clean electricity is available reliably at the time and location where consumers need it. Industry leaders at the 6th ET Energy Leadership Summit 2026 said the next stage of India’s energy transition will depend increasingly on transmission expansion, energy storage, demand-side flexibility and market mechanisms that accurately value dependable renewable power.
The discussion took place during a panel titled “Renewables 2.0 – From Capacity Addition to Dispatchable Clean Power”, held on the opening day of the two-day summit in New Delhi. The panel brought together senior representatives from NTPC Green Energy, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), ReNew and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), with Saloni Sachdeva, Lead Energy Specialist, India Clean Energy Transition at IEEFA, moderating the discussion.
The industry view emerging from the session was that India’s renewable energy transition is moving from a phase dominated by capacity creation to one centred on dispatchability, system flexibility and reliability. While large-scale solar and wind projects continue to form the foundation of clean-energy expansion, their variable generation profiles mean that additional infrastructure and more sophisticated power-market mechanisms are required to match generation with consumption.
Transmission infrastructure emerges as a critical bottleneck
Sarit Maheshwari, CEO of NTPC Green Energy, said the company is targeting 60 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2032, with approximately 11 GW already operational and another 15 GW in the pipeline.
However, he highlighted the growing challenge of coordinating renewable generation with the availability of transmission infrastructure. Renewable projects can often be developed faster than the transmission corridors required to evacuate their electricity. This creates a potential mismatch in which generation assets are ready to produce power while the grid infrastructure needed to transport that electricity remains under development.
Maheshwari pointed to the growing pressure on existing grid capacity and stressed the importance of creating new transmission infrastructure to support the next wave of renewable projects.
The issue becomes particularly significant as renewable projects increasingly move towards resource-rich locations, while major electricity consumption centres are located elsewhere. Solar and wind capacity therefore cannot be evaluated independently of the transmission network required to deliver that power to consumers.
The expansion of transmission capacity will consequently need to progress alongside renewable project development rather than following it.
Supply-chain pressures could add to project risks
The industry also flagged supply-chain constraints as a potential factor affecting the pace and economics of renewable deployment.
Long-lead equipment remains particularly important for large renewable projects, while fluctuations in commodity prices and the availability of critical components can influence project timelines and costs. Developers therefore face a more complex environment in which equipment availability, financing conditions and input-price volatility have to be incorporated into project planning.
For India, the challenge is not simply to build more renewable generation but to establish a sufficiently resilient ecosystem covering equipment manufacturing, transmission, storage and financing.
The economics of dispatchable renewable power
Deepak Gupta, EVP and Head of Commercials for Utility Projects at ReNew, said the meaning of firm and dispatchable renewable energy has evolved as renewable penetration has increased.
Earlier round-the-clock renewable projects relied on a combination of different renewable resources to provide a more consistent supply profile. ReNew’s early RTC project, for example, combined approximately 900 MW of wind and 400 MW of solar to supply 400 MW of round-the-clock power.
As battery technology develops and customer requirements become more differentiated, newer projects can use a greater proportion of solar generation combined with battery storage, depending on the customer’s load profile.
This evolution, however, comes with an important economic question: who pays for the additional cost of making renewable electricity firm and dispatchable?
Dispatchable clean power requires more than simply installing generation capacity. Developers may need to combine multiple renewable technologies, batteries or other storage systems, additional transmission infrastructure and more sophisticated operational arrangements. These components increase both capital requirements and the complexity of project design.
Gupta argued that developers can provide different forms of firm clean power as long as customers are prepared to pay for the associated value.
He also cautioned that highly competitive reverse auctions could result in tariffs that do not fully account for the costs associated with wind generation, storage, domestic equipment requirements, financing and potential future changes in input prices.
The concern highlights a broader challenge for India’s renewable market: the cheapest electricity tariff at a given point in time may not necessarily represent the lowest-cost solution for the power system as a whole.
Demand-side flexibility can reduce pressure on storage
MSEDCL is approaching the challenge of renewable intermittency from both the supply and demand sides.
Pankaj Tagalpallewar, Chief Engineer – Special Projects at MSEDCL, said Maharashtra is working to shift agricultural electricity consumption towards daytime hours, when solar generation is generally more readily available.
The state’s agricultural electricity demand is estimated at around 16 GW, making agricultural consumption an important component of overall system demand. Encouraging daytime electricity use can therefore help align consumption more closely with periods of strong solar generation.
The strategy provides an alternative to relying exclusively on batteries or other forms of storage to manage renewable variability. Instead of storing all surplus electricity for later use, some demand can be shifted towards the periods when renewable generation is naturally abundant.
MSEDCL is also working on approximately 2 GW of battery energy storage and exploring pumped-storage projects.
The combination of storage and demand-side management could become increasingly important as renewable penetration rises. Batteries can provide short-duration flexibility, while pumped-storage projects can potentially provide longer-duration balancing capabilities.
Resource planning must account for flexibility
Alekhya Datta, Director, Electricity & Renewables at TERI, said India’s approach to resource adequacy planning needs to account for the uncertainty inherent in a renewable-heavy electricity system.
Weather conditions, forecasting errors, unexpected outages and changes in electricity demand can all affect the availability of power. Consequently, planning systems based solely on static installed-capacity figures may not provide an adequate picture of whether sufficient electricity will be available when required.
Datta argued that electricity resources should be evaluated not only on the basis of the megawatts they can add to the grid but also according to the flexibility they can provide.
Such an approach could give greater importance to resources capable of adjusting their output or consumption in response to changing grid conditions.
Locational flexibility could also become increasingly important. A flexible resource located in an area experiencing transmission constraints can potentially have greater system value than an identical resource located elsewhere.
Demand response and market mechanisms could gain importance
The panel also highlighted the potential role of demand-response aggregation and performance-based mechanisms.
Demand response allows electricity consumption to be adjusted in response to system conditions, prices or other signals. Aggregating multiple flexible consumers can create a resource capable of contributing to grid balancing without requiring equivalent amounts of new generation or storage.
Performance-based mechanisms could further encourage resources to provide flexibility precisely when and where it is required.
Such mechanisms would represent a broader evolution of India’s electricity-market framework, in which the value of electricity could increasingly depend not only on how much power is generated but also on when, where and how reliably it can be delivered.
Renewables 2.0 shifts the focus from capacity to reliability
The discussions at the summit underscore a fundamental change taking place in India’s renewable energy landscape.
During the initial phase of the energy transition, the priority was largely to accelerate the installation of solar and wind capacity and bring down the cost of renewable electricity. As renewable penetration rises, the system-level challenges become more prominent.
Transmission capacity must expand fast enough to evacuate new generation. Storage needs to grow to address periods when renewable output falls below demand. Flexible electricity consumption can help reduce the gap between generation and demand. At the same time, market structures and procurement mechanisms need to recognise the additional value and cost associated with firm and dispatchable clean power.
For developers, this means that future projects will increasingly have to be designed around the customer’s actual load profile rather than simply around the availability of renewable resources.
For utilities and policymakers, it means planning the power system as an integrated network of generation, transmission, storage and demand.
India’s “Renewables 2.0” phase is therefore likely to be defined less by the headline number of gigawatts added and more by the ability of the electricity system to convert those gigawatts into reliable, affordable and dispatchable clean power.
The next stage of the transition will ultimately depend on whether transmission infrastructure, storage deployment, demand flexibility and market design can develop at a pace that matches India’s rapidly expanding renewable generation base.
Disclaimer: This report has been editorially prepared using publicly available information and official statements. Readers are advised to refer to official announcements for further details.
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