New Delhi: The success of artificial intelligence (AI) in the power sector will be measured by the improvement it delivers on the ground, not by the sophistication of its algorithms, Minister of State (MoS) for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shripad Yesso Naik said on Thursday. He was addressing the valedictory session of “Making Indian Power Sector AI Enabled,” a two-day international conference-cum-exhibition organised by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in New Delhi. The event was held at the Manekshaw Centre to mark the CEA’s 53rd Foundation Day.
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Naik described the conference as a convergence of power system engineering and AI. He said India had achieved 50 percent non-fossil installed capacity in June 2025, five years ahead of its 2030 commitment. According to Naik, the next challenge is to manage this growing and complex system with greater intelligence. “We must move from building a larger power system to building a smarter, more responsive and resilient power system,” he said.
Naik asked whether AI can predict equipment failure and forecast solar and wind generation more accurately. He also asked whether it can help distribution companies (DISCOMs) cut losses and restore supply faster, and whether it can ensure every unit of clean energy is used efficiently. Any such solution should be affordable, replicable and scalable across states and DISCOMs, he said. “Innovation must go hand in hand with security, accountability and human oversight,” said the minister.
Naik urged the CEA to carry the momentum forward through measurable pilot projects, common technical frameworks and the sharing of successful practices. India can develop AI applications for its own needs, he said, and offer scalable solutions to the world. “Technology becomes meaningful only when it improves the lives of the people,” Naik said. He called the conference “the beginning of sustained action” towards a future-ready energy system for Viksit Bharat 2047, the government’s goal of a developed India by 2047.
The conference brought together policymakers, regulators, utilities, industry leaders, academia and technology experts. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) was programme partner and the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) was support partner.
Among the regulators, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) Chairperson Jishnu Barua said the real test of AI will be whether it can be deployed reliably and responsibly. Because of hallucination and algorithmic bias, he cautioned, AI outputs should not be accepted uncritically.
Barua also spoke about electricity demand from AI. He said the Ministry of Power estimates that AI, including data centres, could add 26.5 gigawatts (GW) of new demand by 2031-32. He stressed data sovereignty and called for careful planning of the water and energy footprint of data centres.
Naik launched four documents and tools during the session. One was a new CEA website developed in-house. According to the CEA, the site offers search across thousands of documents and reports, analytical charts on capacity and power supply position, and reports organised by functional domain.
He also released the India Fly Ash Yearbook 2026, which covers 196 thermal power plants that together produce around 90 percent of the country’s fly ash. According to the yearbook, ash utilisation was 95.95 percent in 2021-22, 96.34 percent in 2024-25 and 101.32 percent in 2025-26. The CEA said the figures support the national goal of 100 percent sustainable ash utilisation.
The third launch was a Compendium of Central Rules framed under the Electricity Act, 2003. It puts all rules notified by the Ministry of Power, with amendments up to July 31, in a single reference, and a soft copy is on the CEA website. The fourth was the Automated Monthly Power Market Monitoring Report, which according to the CEA draws its data directly through application programming interfaces (APIs). Because of this, the report can be generated at the click of a button within days of the end of the month, for customised periods and in customised formats. It covers power exchanges, over-the-counter (OTC) platforms, derivatives and futures.
CEA Chairperson Ghanshyam Prasad thanked stakeholders and said the two days had brought experts together on a single platform. He recalled the launches at Wednesday’s inaugural session. These included a cross-border electricity trade portal, a report on digitalisation in the distribution sector and revised transmission planning criteria.
Prasad then referred to the youth session held earlier on Thursday and said its message was clear. “If a boy of Class 12 can do it, he can own a company, he can use AI. Why can’t all of us do it?” he said.
Startups showcased their work at that session. Raul John Aju, founder and chief technology officer of AIRealm Technologies, urged young people to apply AI at scale. The CEA statement described him as the “AI Kid of India.” AI-based demand prediction is now limited to small pockets and should be extended across India, Aju said. He called for “more employers than employees in India” and encouraged students to try ideas and “fail faster.”
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Aju also introduced ThinkCraft, a free, gamified app for learning AI that has nearly 3,000 users. In the age of AI, he said, the most important skill will be “to be as human as possible.”