Apraava Energy Hosts AI-Focused Pre-Summit Ahead of India AI Impact Summit 2026

Apraava Energy hosted an official pre-summit event ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, bringing together senior stakeholders from government, industry, academia and policy think tanks to deliberate on the role of artificial intelligence in accelerating India’s renewable energy and power sector transition.

Held at IIT Delhi, the event was themed, 'Co-Creating the Renewable Energy Future through AI: Collaboration Across Government, Think Tanks and Academia.' Discussions focused on identifying high-impact use cases for AI across the renewable energy ecosystem, examining how AI solutions are being operationalised in real-time power system management, and exploring collaborative models required to scale AI deployment across the sector.

Delivering the keynote address, S. K. Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said that as renewable energy capacity grows rapidly, greater emphasis is now required on system integration, affordability, reliability and long-term sustainability. He noted that artificial intelligence has the potential to create value across the entire renewable energy value chain, from developers and grid operators to consumers and policymakers, enabling a more efficient and least-cost transition pathway.

Ghanshyam Prasad, Chairman, Central Electricity Authority, said that managing the power system has become significantly more complex with rising volumes of solar and wind power. He pointed out that forecasting errors remain a major challenge and added that artificial intelligence can help planners and system operators manage a growing number of variables through improved forecasting, planning and system balancing.

Samir C. Saxena, Chairman and Managing Director, GRID-INDIA, said that the increasing penetration of renewables has made grid operations more data-intensive and complex. He observed that the key challenge is no longer access to data, but the ability to convert large volumes of real-time information into actionable insights that improve situational awareness and support informed decision-making.

Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Managing Director, Apraava Energy, said that the sector’s focus is shifting from capacity addition to managing the variability of renewables in order to ensure grid stability, improve forecasting, integrate storage solutions and enable smarter participation in power markets. He added that as power systems become more complex and consumer behaviour increasingly influences demand patterns, digitalisation and artificial intelligence are emerging as critical enablers of a more resilient and intelligent energy ecosystem.

During the pre-summit, participants highlighted the need to move from capacity-led renewable expansion towards system-led planning supported by AI, along with the importance of AI-driven forecasting and scheduling to reduce grid balancing and deviation risks. The discussions also underlined the growing role of distribution intelligence, smart metering and behind-the-meter resources in shaping future demand and system flexibility, as well as the use of AI for predictive maintenance, asset performance optimisation and smarter market participation.

Apraava Energy showcased its own AI-driven initiatives, including DISCOM GPT, an AI-enabled solution developed using insights from smart metering data to monitor the health of distribution transformers in real time and support predictive maintenance. The solution was recently recognised by the Ministry of Power for advancing innovation in India’s power distribution sector.

The company is also developing artificial intelligence models to improve renewable generation forecasting, optimise asset performance, enhance participation in power markets and implement predictive maintenance solutions across its wind and solar portfolio. Drawing on its experience in managing renewable assets, Apraava aims to strengthen performance, efficiency and reliability through wider adoption of AI-based tools.

The India AI Impact Summit, hosted by the Government of India from February 16 to 20, 2026, seeks to promote inclusive, responsible and action-oriented adoption of artificial intelligence across key sectors. Insights and recommendations emerging from the pre-summit will be consolidated into an outcome report and submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as part of the summit’s deliberations.