New Delhi, October 15 (TNA) India has made strong progress in expanding its renewable energy capacity and achieved the green-energy goals set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of schedule, Mayank Tewari, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said on Wednesday.
Tewari was speaking at the Central Electricity Authority’s international conference-cum-exhibition on “Making Indian Power Sector AI Enabled” in New Delhi. The event brought together officials and experts to discuss the use of artificial intelligence in electricity generation, transmission, distribution and renewable-energy integration.
He said India was performing extremely well in the renewable-energy sector and was on course to meet its future clean-energy requirements. Tewari also said the country was on track to achieve the CEA’s projection of approximately 208 gigawatt-hours of battery storage capacity by 2030.
India’s installed battery energy storage capacity has increased nearly ninefold since January, while tenders for almost 43 GWh of additional storage have already been issued, Tewari said. The third phase of the Green Energy Corridor is expected to add about 50 GWh of battery storage capacity to the pipeline.
The MNRE official said the pace of renewable-energy additions and storage development would be critical as electricity demand rises across the country. He added that India’s expanding renewable-energy base could support the growing power requirements of data centres and other technology-intensive industries.
Demand from AI and data centres
Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada stressed the need to expand electricity generation and infrastructure in line with rapid technological change.
Prasada said the growth of artificial intelligence, semiconductor manufacturing and data centres would significantly increase electricity demand, particularly reliable green power. He cautioned that the expansion of green-power generation was not yet keeping pace with the requirements expected from emerging technologies.
The minister said the government was preparing a dedicated policy for data centres as India seeks to attract large hyperscale investments. He also stressed that the growth of power-intensive data centres should not result in higher electricity costs for ordinary consumers.
The conference examined the use of AI-based forecasting for variable renewable generation, optimisation of energy storage, congestion management and improved coordination of distributed energy resources.
Officials said the integration of artificial intelligence with the power sector could help India manage rising demand, improve grid reliability and accelerate the shift towards cleaner energy sources.