National Roundtable on Scaling Renewables Without Breaking the Grid

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Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is organising a national Roundtable to discuss pathways for scaling utility-scale renewable energy deployment while ensuring grid reliability. The roundtable is expected to bring together policymakers, regulatory bodies, transmission and distribution utilities, project developers, financiers, manufacturers, and state and central government agencies to examine how India can sustain the pace of utility-scale renewable energy addition without compromising grid stability, generation scheduling discipline, land-use sustainability and cost to consumers.

Scaling utility-scale renewables to meet India’s 500-GW target by 2030 will test the grid as much as it tests the market. Rising renewable penetration is straining transmission infrastructure and grid-balancing capacity at both the national and state level, even as coordination between the Centre and states on capacity-addition targets remains uneven, with progress tracked and reported inconsistently across states. RE’s integration is amending the regulatory framework at generator and distribution level with avenues such as competitive bidding, shorter PPAs and even virtual PPAs. With utility-scale storage only beginning to be deployed at the pace, grid balancing becomes key. These developments necessitate dialogue around the evolving challenges for all stakeholders.

Meanwhile, India’s dependence on imported PV cells, modules and battery technologies remains a structural risk to the pace of deployment. Simultaneously, land required for utility-scale projects is increasingly colliding with agricultural, ecological and community interests. This roundtable will confront the challenges directly and chart pathways for reliable, sustainable, and domestically-anchored scale-up of utility-scale renewable energy.

KEY SESSIONS AND SUBJECTS OF DISCUSSION

Grid integration at scale: Challenges from high renewable penetration and the case for strengthening transmission infrastructure at national and state levels
Centre-state coordination: Capacityaddition targets, tracking state-wise progress, and closing coordination gaps
Market and balancing mechanisms: Competitive bidding, power purchase agreement frameworks, and utility-scale storage deployment for grid balancing
Forecasting, scheduling and curtailment: Improving RE generation forecasting accuracy, scheduling discipline, and reducing curtailment losses
Land use and RE siting: Challenges arising from land-use change, and existing practices and mechanisms for appropriate project siting
Regulatory and market reforms: Key legal and regulatory issues in energy sector, grid connectivity and approval processes influencing RE integration