Que: India’s renewable sector is moving from simply adding capacity to delivering reliable power. What regulatory shifts are needed to enable this transition?

Ans: India has built a strong policy foundation for renewable energy growth. As the market evolves, the next phase should increasingly focus on enabling reliable, flexible and dispatchable clean power alongside capacity addition. Storage will be central to this transition, and regulatory frameworks that recognise its multiple roles across peak management, balancing, ancillary services and grid stability can accelerate deployment.

At ENGIE, we are already seeing this shift in the projects being developed. Our 280 MW / 560 MWh GUVNL BESS project, ENGIE’s second largest battery project globally, is designed to absorb electricity during lower demand periods and inject it during peak demand. We are also developing our first large scale solar plus storage project in India under SECI, combining 200 MW of solar with 100 MW / 600 MWh of storage. With six hours of storage capability, the project reflects the transition towards firm and more dependable renewable power rather than generation alone.

Power markets will also need to increasingly value flexibility. ENGIE’s Supply and Energy Management business is developing merchant, open access, hybrid and round the clock solutions for large consumers. Our CERC electricity trading licence also provides access to physical power exchanges, enabling more active portfolio management and greater flexibility.

Going forward, closer alignment between renewable procurement, storage, transmission planning and power markets can create stronger investment signals for solutions that deliver power when the system needs it, rather than rewarding capacity addition in isolation.

Que: With hybrids and storage becoming more central to renewable projects, where do you see the biggest gaps in the current regulatory framework?

Ans: India has already created strong momentum around hybrid renewables and storage. As these project models become more sophisticated, the next step is to ensure that regulation captures the full system value they can provide. One priority is the treatment of storage as a multi service asset. BESS can support peak shifting, balancing, ancillary services, grid stability and customer flexibility. Frameworks that allow storage to participate across these use cases can improve project economics while ensuring that the grid captures more value from the asset.

A second area is flexibility in project configuration. As solar, wind and storage increasingly operate together, technology neutral frameworks that focus on the required power profile can give developers greater scope to optimise the right combination of technologies. Closer alignment between transmission planning, connectivity and renewable procurement will also be important, since hybrid and storage projects have different charging, discharging and evacuation requirements.

As corporate energy requirements become more sophisticated, regulatory frameworks will also need to accommodate merchant storage, open access and round the clock solutions. ENGIE’s global ambition to reach around 10 GW of installed battery capacity by 2030 gives us visibility into how storage markets evolve as flexibility becomes increasingly valuable. Through our Supply and Energy Management capabilities, we are also building the ability to optimise generation, storage, markets and customer demand together. The direction is positive. The next phase is about ensuring that flexibility, reliability and system value are recognised as clearly as renewable generation itself.

Que: How can regulators create a market that rewards reliability and flexibility, rather than focusing primarily on the lowest tariff?

Ans: India’s renewable market has made strong progress by driving down tariffs and accelerating capacity addition. As the power system becomes more complex, the next step is to complement affordability with market signals that recognise reliability, flexibility and the quality of power delivered.

This means increasingly valuing characteristics such as availability during peak periods, ramping capability, frequency support, firming and responsiveness to grid conditions. Procurement structures can also place greater emphasis on the power profile delivered rather than evaluating projects primarily through the headline tariff. This would allow hybrid and storage backed projects to compete on the broader value they provide to the system. At ENGIE, we are already seeing this transition in project design. Our 200 MW solar plus 100 MW / 600 MWh storage project under SECI is designed to deliver a more dependable power profile, while our 280 MW / 560 MWh GUVNL BESS project is built around shifting energy from lower demand periods to peak hours.

Market design can reinforce this shift by expanding opportunities for storage and flexible assets to participate in ancillary services, balancing and other market products. Through our Supply and Energy Management capabilities, ENGIE is building the ability to optimise generation, storage and customer demand together rather than treating each independently. Digital tools will also become increasingly important in delivering and demonstrating reliability. Advanced forecasting, real time monitoring and AI enabled optimisation can help assets respond more dynamically to grid conditions and give system operators greater visibility into performance.

Que: What policy changes could make it easier for companies to procure renewable power at scale and meet their decarbonisation goals?

Ans: Corporate renewable procurement in India has already reached meaningful scale. Renewable procurement by commercial and industrial consumers exceeded 30 GW in 2025, after growing at a 22 percent CAGR between 2020 and 2024. The opportunity now is to make procurement easier to scale, more predictable and better suited to increasingly sophisticated corporate energy needs. Greater consistency across states on open access charges, banking provisions, approval timelines and implementation can give companies greater certainty when making long term renewable energy decisions.

Transmission access will also remain important. ISTS green open access projects have accounted for around 25 percent of utility scale renewable tenders since 2020, and the segment could contribute up to 40 GW by 2030, highlighting the importance of enabling renewable rich regions to serve industrial demand across state boundaries.

Companies are also moving beyond conventional renewable procurement towards round the clock power, flexible sourcing and more tailored contracting structures. Policy frameworks that enable models such as corporate PPAs, open access, group captive arrangements and virtual PPAs can support this evolution.

ENGIE brings significant experience to this market. BloombergNEF ranked ENGIE the world’s number one supplier of renewable corporate PPAs in 2025, with 3.6 GW signed in the year and 13.8 GW contracted since 2011. Through our Supply and Energy Management capabilities, we are bringing this global experience to increasingly sophisticated corporate energy requirements in India. The next phase should therefore focus on making corporate renewable procurement more predictable, flexible and scalable, enabling businesses to move from buying renewable electricity to managing comprehensive long term decarbonisation strategies.

Que: As renewable projects become increasingly digitally driven, should India’s regulatory approach also evolve to account for forecasting, AI-enabled operations and digital grid management?

Ans: India’s regulatory framework has evolved significantly alongside the growth of renewable energy. As the power system becomes more digitally driven, regulation should increasingly recognise digital capability as an enabler of grid reliability and efficiency. Stronger forecasting and scheduling can improve predictability as variable renewable generation grows, while outcome-based performance standards can encourage better results without prescribing specific technologies.
AI enabled operations can also strengthen reliability through earlier detection of equipment issues, predictive maintenance and faster operational decisions. As real time monitoring and automated controls become more important, this should be supported by clear standards around cybersecurity, data governance and responsible AI.

At ENGIE, digital capabilities are already integral to asset management. Our Fleet Performance Development Centre in Pune supports centralised monitoring and performance optimisation across renewable assets, while AI tools such AlexandrIA and Mobilee use AI enabled analytics to support operational decision making.

The regulatory opportunity is therefore to remain technology neutral while creating standards that reward forecasting accuracy, digital visibility, responsiveness and secure data driven operations.