Chandigarh: The Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Power met on Tuesday in Chandigarh to deliberate on grid stability, chaired by Union Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar. The committee reviewed steps for a reliable, flexible and resilient grid and appreciated the record integration of more than 50 GW of renewable capacity in a year.
Follow Energy Watch on X
The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Power Shripad Yesso Naik, Members of Parliament who are part of the Consultative Committee, the Secretary of the Ministry of Power, and senior representatives from key power sector institutions, including the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Grid Controller of India Limited and Central Transmission Utility of India Limited.
The committee deliberated on the emerging requirements of grid stability in view of India's growing electricity demand, large-scale renewable energy integration and the increasing share of inverter-based generation resources and bulk loads. Discussions covered secure renewable integration, transmission strengthening, energy storage, dynamic reactive power support, grid flexibility, compliance with technical standards, forecasting, power quality and grid resilience.
The meeting noted that grid stability is "central to energy security" and that India's clean energy transition "must be supported by a reliable, flexible and resilient power grid."
Members appreciated the initiatives already being taken, including resource adequacy planning, ancillary services, energy storage promotion, the deployment of STATCOMs and synchronous condensers, PMU-based monitoring, black-start mock drills, and the strengthening of technical standards.
The committee appreciated a set of actions to ensure stability in a grid with large penetration of inverter-based generation resources and bulk loads. These included avoiding a mismatch between the commissioning of transmission lines and renewable energy projects to prevent curtailment, and promoting pumped storage projects for long-duration storage to ensure resource adequacy and provide inertial support. It also backed encouraging suitable bulk consumers to locate closer to large renewable generation complexes to optimise transmission investment.
On equipment and market design, the panel supported the planning and deployment of STATCOMs and synchronous condensers for voltage stability and system strength, and the establishment of suitable regulatory and commercial mechanisms to harness flexibility services from renewable energy sources and storage systems. It called for a periodic and timely review of technical standards for new technologies such as battery energy storage systems, grid-forming inverters, electrolysers and data centre loads.
Follow Energy Watch on LinkedIN
The committee also sought stronger compliance monitoring through periodic self-audit and compliance reporting by grid-connected entities, and improved renewable energy forecasting through better weather data, calibration and maintenance of weather stations, and the installation of automatic weather stations at renewable energy plants. On resilience, it backed the strengthening of transmission and distribution infrastructure in weather-prone corridors, the maintenance of emergency restoration systems and the augmentation of black-start capability for faster restoration. Finally, it called for a suitable framework for power quality and harmonics assessment in view of the increasing penetration of inverter-based resources.
The meeting concluded with a resolve to work collectively "towards a clean, reliable, flexible, secure and resilient Indian grid."