Securing India's Clean Energy Pipeline

India must significantly scale up domestic manufacturing of critical solar components, improve energy storage solutions, and reinforce its power infrastructure to meet future energy demands and achieve its 2070 net-zero emissions target.

Speaking at a prominent energy and infrastructure summit, Dr. Bondada Raghavendra Rao, Chairman and Managing Director of Bondada Group, emphasized that while India possesses the capital, talent, and execution speed required to expand its renewable sector, heavy reliance on foreign imports for raw materials remains a key vulnerability.

"India has all the capabilities—people, money, capital, that is speed of execution," Rao noted during a panel discussion focused on building the nation's next growth trajectory. However, he cautioned that forward-looking strategies must address vulnerabilities in the supply chain over the next decade.

Closing Gaps in Solar Manufacturing

Although India has successfully developed robust domestic capacity for manufacturing solar modules used in electricity conversion, the country remains heavily dependent on imports for upstream components such as solar wafers and ingots, which are essential for producing solar cells.

"We have built sufficient capacities of modules. But in the same way, you need to look forward for the next 10, 15 years," Rao said, underlining the urgency of establishing local fabrication facilities to curb capital outflow and secure the supply chain.

Diversifying Energy Storage Technologies

Addressing the intermittent nature of solar energy, Rao highlighted the critical need for advanced grid-scale storage systems. He pointed out that India currently relies almost entirely on imported lithium-ion battery cells, urging the sector to explore alternative and longer-duration technologies, including vanadium redox flow batteries.

According to industry experts, vanadium flow batteries can sustain power delivery for 10 to 12 hours or more, significantly outperforming standard lithium iron phosphate batteries, which typically store power for four to six hours.

Rao highlighted that vanadium is abundantly available within India, presenting a strong case for domestic extraction and industrial utilization. He revealed that his infrastructure firm has already secured a 100 megawatt-hour vanadium redox flow battery storage project from NTPC, marking a step forward in testing and scaling the technology nationwide.

Rising Power Demands from Data Centers

With India's total installed power capacity resting at approximately 533 gigawatts—of which roughly 281 gigawatts stem from non-fossil fuel sources—Rao drew attention to surging electricity consumption driven by data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure, which require uninterrupted, round-the-clock power supplies.