Integrating Renewable Energy Into India’s Grid̶- Harder Than It Looks

Abstract

In this paper, we focus on the major knowledge gaps when it comes to planning for and adapting to the rapid expansion of renewable energy power in India. The note is structured as follows. In section 2, we give an overview of the power grid in India, and what the broad challenges of RE integration are. We identify major questions that need to be addressed by the government and the energy policy research community in terms of understanding the system-level costs of RE. In section 3, we discuss in some detail the results of Greening the Grid (GTG) report — an important effort in this direction. We summarise the salient features of this modeling exercise and their policy implications. We then discuss the assumptions and limitations of the GTG report. The last section concludes with a discussion on modeling and analytic gaps that could be addressed in the future.