Grids & Integration

As India accelerates its energy transition and modernises its grid infrastructure, the energy and utility sector will move beyond its traditional functionality. Cybersecurity, once a back-office IT concern, is now at the front, especially for Operational Technology (OT).

India is already investing in energy storage solutions such as batteries and pumped storage to enable greater integration of renewable energy into the grid. However, this alone may not be sufficient. It’s time to also look at demand management to enable dovetail between renewable energy generation and demand.

The true breakthrough is when smart grids connect with solar power together. That connection opens up a lot of possibilities. Smart grids will tell us what a solar energy system can produce by predicting the weather and adjusting the transfer of electricity in real time.

Independent power producers have captured a significant share of India’s clean energy capital, with projects often backed by substantial financing from institutions like the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA). Additionally, these have the ability to raise money in a cautious global market because of their capacity to lock up bankable power purchase agreements (PPAs), which provides financial predictability.

integrating variable renewable energy sources into conventional power systems requires a delicate balance of technology, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance. While AI and ML have become indispensable tools in the modern energy toolkit, they are most effective when paired with on-ground human insight and proactive asset management.

Researchers have designed a new switched-capacitor-based multilevel inverter topology with nine switches. They have tested it in simulations and in hardware-in-the-loop tests. Efficiency reached up to 96.5%.

Scientists in India have simulated and tested a prototype wireless charging system for electric vehicles, with a three-port DC–DC converter at its core and have found it achieved an improved efficiency of 88%.

The persistent evening peaks, which now nearly match daytime highs, reinforce the urgency of deploying storage solutions, demand-side measures and hybrid renewable projects to meet post-sunset demand.

“India is on track to achieve the milestone of 50% renewable energy share in its total installed power generation capacity by the end of the year,” said union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar at the 11th edition of India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2025.

Without resilient, responsive, and renewable-ready transformer networks, India’s decarbonization goals risk being destabilized by the very variability they aim to harness.