Energetica India Magazine

WOMAN INFLUENCER 62 energetica INDIA- Jul-Aug_2026 Founder & CEO TekUncorked Q As India’s renewable energy capacity and EV adoption continue to grow, how do you see AI transforming the country’s electricity distribution networks over the next five years? Meenakshi Vashist: India’s power sector is in the middle of a structural shift. We’ve crossed 521 GW of installed capacity, with over 52 percent now from non-fossil sources, and we’re targeting 500 GW of renewables by 2030. At the same time, EV sales are accelerating – from roughly 2.3 million vehicles a year today toward an estimated 30-35 million EVs on Indian roads by 2030. That combination of intermittent generation and volatile, EV-driven demand is exactly what traditional, rule-based distribution networks were never designed for. Over the next five years, I expect AI to become the default operating layer for distribution – not a bolt-on analytics tool, but the system that continuously forecasts demand, balances load, and coordinates thousands of small, distributed assets – rooftop solar, batteries, EV chargers – as if they were a single virtual power plant. AI-driven grid digitalisation alone could cut renewable curtailment by an estimated 25 percent by 2030 and unlock over a trillion dollars in economic value. India has a genuine chance to leapfrog here – building AI-native grid operations rather than retrofitting decades-old SCADA sys - tems. Q How can smart grids with AI and IoT help in integrat- ing the growing number of distributed renewable energy projects under PM Surya Ghar, PM KUSUM, and small-scale captive C&I projects efficiently? How does the challenge differ from utility-scale projects? Meenakshi Vashist: The distinction between utility-scale and distributed renewables is differentiated in complexity. Fore- casting and Dispatch of a handful of large solar or wind parks can be done centrally with relatively conventional tools. But PM Surya Ghar, which is targeting one crore rooftop in - stallations by FY27, PM KUSUM’s 34,800 MW target across agricultural pumps and decentralised plants, and small C&I captive projects together create millions of small, bidirection- al, often unpredictable power flows at the low-voltage edge of the grid – not the substation. That’s a fundamentally different problem and needs edge-lev- O ver the next five years, AI is expected to become the default operating layer for distribution – not a bolt-on analytics tool, but the system that continuously forecasts demand, balances load, and coordinates thousands of small, distributed assets – rooftop solar, batteries, EV chargers – as if they were a single virtual power plant, said Meenakshi Vashist, Founder & CEO, TekUncorked, in an interview with Energetica India. MEENAKSHI VASHIST