Opinion & Analysis

Renewable energy is abundant but intermittent. Demand is growing but uneven. Infrastructure exists but is often misaligned with where and when power is needed. In this environment, the grid has become more than a passive network; it is an active balancing system. Its resilience will determine whether the energy transition delivers stability or introduces volatility.

For years, the battery energy storage (BESS) story has followed a familiar script: costs fall, deployment accelerates, economics improve. Even when cell costs rose and system prices briefly flattened during the 2021-22 lithium price spike, the narrative largely held. Paola Perez Peña, senior principal analyst at S&P Global Energy, examines why the latest jump in lithium prices has only had limited impacts on overall BESS costs so far.

India’s rising power demand is increasingly being met by renewables, particularly during daytime peak hours. However, rising renewable curtailment shows that grid infrastructure and flexibility are not keeping pace with clean energy growth. With stronger transmission networks, more flexible grid operations, and faster battery deployment, a larger share of evening and night-time demand can also be met through non-fossil sources.

India’s renewable energy push is inherently decentralized. Solar parks in Rajasthan, wind farms in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and hybrid projects across states are often located far from consumption centers. Bridging these geographical gaps requires robust, resilient, and future ready transmission network. Without it, even the most ambitious generation targets risk underutilization.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

The clean energy transition carries a real risk of replicating the extractive habits of the fossil fuel era, just with different inputs. Land grabs for solar. Rare earth mining for batteries. Water consumption for green hydrogen. None of these are arguments against the transition. They are arguments for doing it intelligently. Floating solar is one example of that intelligence made practical.

As the energy-generating capacity scales up, it becomes critical to integrate intelligent embedded control and connectivity solutions. With a concerted effort to utilize the advances in power electronics and connectivity solutions, it is possible to achieve self-reliant, environmentally friendly, and efficient energy systems that can power a nation.

The communities that engage earliest with the clean energy transition benefit most deeply from it. But community engagement does not happen automatically. It requires deliberate investment in workforce development, accessible training, and policies that channel economic benefit back to the localities where energy is generated.

Burden shifting refers to reducing environmental impact of one category causing increase in another; or reducing harm in one geography while concentrating it in another. On both dimensions, the evidence of burden shifting of the lithium-ion supply chain is evident and should not be ignored.

As green hydrogen scales from pilot projects to industrial supply chains, the organizations that pair AI-powered digital twins with green hydrogen-as-a-service (GHaaS) commercial structures will be best positioned to deliver clean hydrogen at competitive cost and speed.