Energetica India Magazine March - April 2026

Co-Founder & COO Meine Electric Q Renewable installations, particularly solar and wind, are growing rapidly across the country. How do you see the energy ecosystem evolving over the next decade as India moves closer to its 2030 targets? Stuti Kakkar: India’s transition to renewable energy is entering a rapid scale phase. In FY 2024-25 alone, India added a record 29.52 GW of renewable capacity, boosting total clean power to 220.10 GW, 44 percent of the way to the 500 GWnon-fossil target by 2030. The next decade will mark a shift from the clean energy ‘era’ of sim- ply adding renewable capacity to amore mature, post-hydrocarbon phase focusedonbuildinga resilient, value-drivenenergyecosystem. As solar and wind, by nature variable sources, continue to expand their share in the grid, energy storage infrastructurewill become just as critical as generation capacity itself. As India moves toward its 2030 targets, the energy ecosystem will increasingly revolve around three pillars: renewable generation, grid modernisation, and large-scale long-duration energy storage. Stor- age will enable excess energy generated during peak solar or wind periods to be stored and deployed during evening peaks or low-gen- eration hours. In essence, the next phase of India’s energy transition will not just be about producing clean power, but about managing when and how that power is delivered to the grid. Q Data from the Central Electricity Authority indicates that solar curtailment is already emerging as a challenge. What does renewable curtailment signal about the current lim- itations of India’s grid infrastructure? Stuti Kakkar: Renewable curtailment can be an early indication that the grid is having trouble absorbing a growing percentage of variable renewable energy. For India, it’s a reflection of the mis - match betweenwhen renewable energy is being produced andwhen power demand occurs. Solar generation, for example, reaches its peak during the middle of the daywhen demand is not always at its highest. Lacking sufficient storage or grid flexibility, the system is sometimes left with no alter - native but to curtail generation. With nearly 4GWof solar capacity inRajasthan being hit by trans- mission constraints, Tamil Nadu curtailing 8-10M units daily and National SolarEnergyFederation of India (NSEFI) reporting losses hitting USD 26M since April 2025 in Rajasthan amid grid conges- tion, Li-ion alone cannot deliver round-the-clock (RTC) firm capac - ity. Curtailment essentially means that we are wasting clean energy that we have already produced. This highlights two structural limitations. First, transmission in- frastructure needs to expand faster to move renewable power from generation-heavy regions to demand centres. Second, and equally M eine Electric’s goal is to enable renewable energy to become a truly dependable power source by ensuring that surplus en- ergy can be stored and delivered whenever the grid needs it, said Stuti Kakkar, Co-Founder & COO, Meine Electric, in an interview with Energetica India. STUTI KAKKAR WOMAN INFLUENCER 62 energetica INDIA- Mar-Apr_2026