From a ₹30 Transaction to the Future of India’s Grid: Reflections from Bharat Electricity Summit 

In February 2026, when Arun Singh, a solar prosumer from Uttar Pradesh, sold 6 units of electricity for ₹30 to Lakshmi, a garment shop owner in Delhi, it was by most measures a small transaction. 

In truth, it represented a tectonic shift in India’s energy system. 

This was the first real-time public demonstration of peer-to-peer energy trading: a use case built on India Energy Stack (IES) — the open, federated digital public infrastructure designed to bring the Aadhaar and UPI moment to energy. 

IES is not a database or an application. Dr R. S. Sharma, Chairperson of the IES Taskforce, describes it as a ‘data fabric’: a layer that lets utilities, system operators, market participants, and consumers exchange information through common standards — without replacing their existing systems. Think shared rails, not a centralised platform. 

In February, Version 0.3 of IES Strategy and Architecture documents were released, with Version 1.0 targeted for July. Pilots are already running across Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. And at the inaugural Bharat Electricity Summit (BES), held in New Delhi from March 19–22, 2026, the IES showcase firmly won stakeholders’ trust. 

Energy Credentials: Putting Consumer Agency at the Centre 

The centrepiece of the IES showcase at BES was a new use case: Energy Credentials. 

Energy Credentials are verified digital records issued by DISCOMs that link a consumer’s identity with their energy infrastructure. Stored in DigiLocker and accessed through a consent-based framework, they transform an electricity bill into a digitally verifiable proof of address, consumption history, or solar generation capacity. 

For consumers, this means greater access to — and control over — their own energy data, facilitating Energy Agency. For the grid, it lays the groundwork for prosumer participation, demand response programmes, and data-driven system management.

On March 19, the IES team — Jitendra Srivastava IAS, CMD at REC Limited; Prince Dhawan, Executive Director at REC Limited; and Swetha Ravi Kumar, Executive Director at FSR Global — presented the Energy Credentials use case to Shri Manohar Lal Khattar, Hon’ble Minister of Power; Shri Pralhad Joshi, Hon’ble Minister of New and Renewable Energy; and Shri Shripad Naik, Hon’ble Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy.  

The dignitaries also engaged with an explainer film at the REC Pavilion. 

When Data Centres Meet the Grid 

On March 20, FSR Global and the Eastern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Limited’s Centre of Excellence for Energy Transition launched a new whitepaper: Data Centres and India’s Power Grid. 

With India’s data centre capacity projected to grow from roughly 1.5 GW to 8–10 GW by 2030, the paper examines what happens when massive, concentrated digital loads meet a grid already chasing 500 GW of non-fossil energy targets.  

It explores the dynamic stability challenges created by UPS systems and AI workload variability, draws lessons from Ireland, Texas, Singapore, and France, and flags institutional risks — including cross-subsidy erosion and stranded distribution assets — that may prove harder to solve than the technical ones. 

Authored by Rishabh Jain, Swetha Ravi Kumar, Nagasrikanth Kallakuri, and Deepthaa Kumar, the paper argues for proactive planning, coordinated siting, and system readiness as digital demand surges.  

The whitepaper was launched in the presence of Prudhvitej Immadi, Managing Director, APEPDCL & Vice Chairman, CoEET, and Surya Praveenchand, Joint Managing Director, AP TRANSCO. 

In Closing 

With over 35,000 attendees, 300+ speakers, and participants from more than 80 countries, the inaugural edition of Bharat Electricity Summit was a resounding success. For IES, it proved to be a solid testing ground, right from the demonstration of Energy Credentials, to cultivating and winning stakeholders’ approval. 

Version 1.0 of IES Strategy and Architecture is on track for July 2026. Follow along to see, and contribute to, the journey. 

India Energy Stack is a Ministry of Power initiative, with REC Limited as nodal agency and FSR Global as knowledge partner. To engage with IES, write to ies.secretariat@fsrglobal.org or ies@recindia.com. Visit ies.fsrglobal.org for more.