ISA and Government of India Convene Pre-Summit on Global AI Energy Mission
The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Government of India hosted a high-level pre-summit ahead of AI Impact Summit 2026 to advance the use of AI in strengthening resilient, efficient, and sustainable energy systems across India and the Global South.
December 18, 2025. By News Bureau
Organised as an official pre-summit event to the AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled for February next year, the convening marked a key milestone in India’s preparatory journey toward the summit. It served as an alignment platform to shape mission priorities, advance deployable AI product thinking, and build coalitions around real-world applications of AI in the energy sector.
The convening opened with a welcome address by Ashish Khanna, Director General, ISA, who emphasised that digitisation of power distribution systems is now foundational to managing the rapid expansion of solar and other distributed renewables.
He noted, “As solar capacity continues to double globally and distributed renewable energy expands at an unprecedented pace, the digitisation of power distribution systems is no longer optional—it is fundamental. Managing variability, improving power procurement efficiency, reducing system losses, and delivering better customer service at scale will require AI-enabled digital infrastructure such as digital twins, interoperable platforms, and open protocols.”
Spotlighting the sectoral landscape, he further added, “Challenges are common across developed, emerging, and low-income countries alike. Today’s challenge is not a lack of pilots, but fragmentation. The strength of the Global South is in building high-quality, low-cost AI innovations, therefore, presents a unique global opportunity. It is an opportunity aimed to move beyond conceptual discussions toward concrete AI products, real-world use cases, and a collaborative Global AI Mission for Energy.”
Ghanshyam Prasad, Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority, in his inaugural address, emphasised the operational urgency of digitalisation. He noted that large-scale deployment of distributed renewable energy requires end-to-end visibility across distribution networks.
He said, “As we move rapidly toward large-scale deployment of distributed renewable energy, particularly rooftop solar, visibility across the distribution network becomes critical. Without end-to-end digitalisation—from the consumer level to the distribution network and system operators—the scale we are planning for, could pose serious challenges for grid management. Artificial intelligence and digital tools must therefore be deployed with clear, well-defined use cases, focused on real operational needs rather than pilots in isolation. This is the moment to move decisively from experimentation to scalable implementation, supported by close collaboration between policymakers, utilities, and innovators.”
Highlighting the global dimension, Florent Mangin, Head, Regional Economic Department, India and South Asia and representing the ISA Co-Presidency, stressed that AI can be a powerful enabler of the energy transition if deployed in a trusted, secure, and sustainable manner.
He stated, “As the energy transition accelerates, our power systems must integrate more renewables, manage greater decentralisation, and still deliver reliable and affordable electricity to citizens and businesses. Artificial intelligence can be a powerful accelerator in this context, but its deployment must be trusted, secure, and sustainable.”
He underlined the importance of transparency, environmental responsibility, and capacity building. He also reaffirmed France’s commitment to working with India and ISA member countries to deliver practical outcomes that strengthen energy system resilience.
The session proceedings were divided into two sessions, with the first session focused on India’s AI products for the global energy transition, examining how initiatives such as the India Energy Stack, digital grids, and AI-enabled grid pilots can evolve into scalable platforms.
Moderated by Shashank Misra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, the session highlighted the transformative potential of real-time grid and consumer data enabled by India’s rapid rollout of smart meters. Delivering his remarks, Misra noted, “India today operates the world’s largest single electricity grid, and with the rapid rollout of smart meters, an unprecedented volume of real-time consumer and system data is coming onto the grid. If harnessed effectively, this data can fundamentally transform distribution utilities—enabling better load and demand forecasting, power purchase optimisation, theft reduction and more competitive tariffs.”
Discussions emphasised the importance of clearly defined use cases to avoid fragmented systems, particularly in areas such as forecasting, power procurement optimisation, and the integration of emerging technologies such as vehicle-to-grid. Speakers also highlighted the caution against premature standardisation that could stifle innovation, while underscoring the need to build digital and AI capabilities within DISCOMs, many of which remain at an early stage of digital transformation.
Voicing the Indian sub-national experience, Arti Dogra, CMD, Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam, described how AI-enabled energy accounting and predictive asset management have helped the utility address localised losses, improve reliability, and shift from reactive to predictive operations. She highlighted the role of digital twins and AI.
She noted, “At Jaipur DISCOM, we have already digitised nearly 80 percent of a vast and complex network, AI-enabled feeder- and transformer-level energy accounting allowing us to identify highly localised technical and commercial losses and addressing them intelligently, rather than through blunt, system-wide interventions.”
The second session featured a keynote address by Abhishek Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
“The Global AI Mission for Energy that is being conceptualised gives a big opportunity for the developing countries, including India, building locally tested AI products for the energy sector, ensuring that these products can ultimately create a whole set of opportunities for local enterprises in global south, drive innovation and startups in countries like India to offer it at scale to the whole world. This is a very welcome ste,” he underlined.
The deliberations and recommendations from the convening will directly inform the product suite and coalition announcements planned for the AI Impact Summit 2026, reinforcing India’s leadership in deploying AI as a force multiplier for resilience, innovation, efficiency, and equitable access to clean energy worldwide.
MeitY is leading a series of thematic consultations to develop actionable outcomes, non-papers, and launch-ready initiatives for the AI Impact Summit. Within this framework, the Ministry of Power is spearheading the Summit’s working group on resilience, innovation and efficiency, focusing on leveraging AI to improve grid reliability, reduce losses, enhance forecasting and demand flexibility, and support long-term system planning. With a vision to scale up these national efforts, ISA is developing a Global AI Mission for Energy to accelerate the deployment of affordable, reliable, and clean power systems that are scalable and replicable across its member countries.
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