Ratul Puri: India's Renewable Energy Transition – Balancing Flexibility and Reliability

Record-breaking bids and increasing investments helped bring renewable energy into the mainstream.

Authored by Ratul Puri, Chairman, Hindustan Power

In this article, Ratul Puri shares his perspective on how India’s renewable energy transition must now prioritize flexibility, reliability, and grid resilience alongside clean energy expansion.

India’s renewable energy (RE) sector is undergoing a quiet but significant transformation. The journey began with robust tariff auctions that made solar and other clean energy sources commercially competitive. Record breaking bids and increasing investments helped bring renewable energy into the mainstream

The silent, systemic shift

As RE penetration deepens, the next phase of the energy transition presents a new challenge. The focus is no longer limited to low-cost generation. Instead, the grid now requires reliable, dispatchable power that can support stable operations and consistently meet rising demand.

This marks a transition from a purely cost-competitive model to a valuebased power system. Historically, tariffs did not fully account for critical factors such as storage costs, transmission congestion, intermittency management, balancing requirements, and curtailment risks. While storage-backed or hybrid renewable solutions may appear expensive upfront, they significantly reduce systemic stress and enhance grid efficiency over time.

Consequently, procurement priorities are shifting. Greater emphasis is now placed on capacity value, flexibility, and reliability rather than just headline tariffs. This transition reflects a maturing market adapting to the evolving needs of a high-RE power system, especially as India advances towards its 2030 non-fossil fuel capacity goals.

What is driving this shift?

The sector is moving from a lowest-tariff framework to a lowestsystemic-cost approach. Traditional levelised cost of energy (LCOЕ) metrics fail to capture hidden costs such as transmission bottlenecks, K intermittency, and curtailment risks. The focus is now on the total cost of delivering reliable power, including storage, balancing, transmission, and integration expenses.

Reliability has emerged as a key requirement. With increasing RE penetration, the grid needs power that is dependable, dispatchable, and available on demand. Hybrid solutions-such as solar-wind combinations integrated with battery storage are increasingly preferred over standalone projects, as they ensure power availability during peak demand periods.

Flexibility, once managed implicitly within the system, is now gaining formal recognition. Earlier, coal plants adjusted output, hydro power balanced fluctuations, and system operators handled variability in real time. However, these services were neither explicitly valued nor compensated. That is now changing.

The role of storage and infrastructure

Energy storage has become central to ensuring round-the-clock power supply. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) and pumped hydro projects are critical for reducing variability, curbing curtailment, and improving RE utilisation. States must prioritise new tenders for such projects, while also expediting land, water, and regulatory approvals for storage-linked developments.

Central policies can further support this transition. Measures such as interstate transmission charge waivers for storage projects and the integration of storage into planning frameworks are essential. Additionally, grid modernisation - through improved transmission capacity, better demand forecasting, and enhanced grid managementwill be key to accelerating progress.

Strengthening grid readiness

Grid readiness remains a significant bottleneck for RE expansion. While several states possess abundant renewable resources, inadequate transmission infrastructure often delays project execution. To address this, states must take a proactive approach in planning and commissioning intrastate transmission networks aligned with project timelines and central plans.

Distribution networks also require strengthening through upgrades to lines, substations, and transformers. This will ensure efficient evacuation of renewable and distributed solar power, reduce congestion and losses, and enable reliable integration of variable energy sources.

Enhancing ancillary service markets is equally important. Expanding ramping reserves, frequency response mechanisms, and fast-response services will provide the flexibility needed to manage higher shares of renewable energy.

Concluding thoughts

India’s energy transition is part of a broader global shift. In regions such as the European Union, high solar penetration has led to frequent zero negative pricing during certain hours-highlighting misalignment between supply and demand. The global response has been consistent: increase storage capacity, strengthen balancing markets, and promote demand-side flexibility

As India advances towards energy security, ensuring flexibility and reliability will be just as critical as expanding renewable capacity. A balanced mix of conventional and renewable sources, supported by strong infrastructure and market mechanisms, will define the next phase of the country’s energy transition.

About Ratul Puri:

Ratul Puri is the Chairman of Hindustan Power, an integrated power generation company with a strong presence in renewable and transitional energy generation. Over the years, Ratul Puri has been involved in the development of large-scale energy infrastructure projects that support India’s growing power requirements and its transition toward cleaner energy sources.

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