The Growing Pain of Renewable Curtailment
India's ambitious drive towards renewable energy, a cornerstone of its energy security strategy, is encountering a significant bottleneck: its aging and inadequate grid infrastructure. Despite adding a record over 50 GW of renewable energy in FY2025-26, pushing non-fossil fuel sources past 50% of installed capacity for the first time, a substantial amount of this clean power is going unused. In 2025 alone, approximately 2.3 terawatt-hours of solar power were curtailed, enough to power around 400,000 homes for a year. This curtailment, the inability to evacuate or absorb renewable electricity despite its availability, is becoming increasingly common as renewable capacity additions outpace investments in transmission infrastructure, substation capacity, and overall grid flexibility.
The problem is exacerbated by the operational constraints of traditional thermal power plants, which have a minimum technical load requirement and cannot be ramped down instantly. This means that even when solar output is high, these plants continue to operate at their minimum stable load, limiting the grid's capacity to absorb additional renewable energy. Transmission congestion within states, where generated renewable power cannot be efficiently transferred to high-demand centers, further compounds the issue, leading to localized oversupply and the necessity of curtailing clean energy. This situation creates a paradox where renewable energy is being wasted in some regions while others may still rely on costlier thermal generation.
Modernizing the Grid for a Flexible Energy Future
The urgency for grid reform is underscored by the evolving energy landscape and rising demand. With electricity demand in India projected to grow at an average annual rate of 6.4% until 2030, driven by factors like electric vehicles, data centers, and industrial growth, the existing grid is ill-equipped to handle the increasing integration of variable renewable energy sources. The Draft National Electricity Policy (NEP) 2026, released for public consultation, explicitly aims to "strengthen grid resilience to enable large scale RE generation and utilisation, flexible operation, and meet climate adaptation and cybersecurity needs".
Addressing these challenges requires a multi-pronged strategy. Experts emphasize the need for significant investment in grid modernization, including the deployment of advanced conductors to increase transmission capacity without new land acquisition, grid-forming inverters, improved forecasting, and distributed digital controls. Battery energy storage systems are also identified as crucial for balancing intermittent renewables and ensuring grid reliability. The Draft National Electricity Policy 2026 also highlights the exploration of gas-based plants for peaking and balancing, and the potential introduction of capacity markets to ensure the financial sustainability of such plants. Furthermore, structural reforms in the power sector, including stronger interconnections and improved intra-state networks, are essential to move from merely having adequate power to ensuring total energy security. The government is also promoting faster rollout of smart meters to facilitate time-of-day tariffs and demand-side management.
Energy Security Redefined: From Fuel to Electricity
Recent geopolitical events, such as tensions in the Middle East, have further highlighted India's vulnerability due to its over-85% dependence on oil imports and significant reliance on imported coal and gas. This underscores the shift in India's energy focus from fuel security to electricity security, emphasizing the need for reliable, robust, and round-the-clock electricity generation, storage, and distribution. The nation's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2031-2035, aiming for 60% of installed power capacity to be non-fossil-fuel-based, is announced amid these rising geopolitical implications for energy security.
To achieve true energy security, India must move beyond conservation toward radical structural transformation. This includes aggressive renewable scaling, robust energy storage solutions, grid modernization, and technological diversification, including nuclear and green hydrogen. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Secretary, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, has stressed that grid modernization and ensuring its ability to absorb and dispatch more renewable energy is critical to India's renewable energy growth story. The path forward necessitates a comprehensive approach, integrating policy reforms, technological advancements, and substantial infrastructure investment to ensure that India's burgeoning renewable energy sector can reliably power its future and bolster its energy independence.