New Delhi: The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and Renewable Energy (RE) will be considered successful when it results in lower power costs and stronger industrial competitiveness, a senior government official said on Monday. “I think in the next two to three years' time, success in AI and the renewable energy convergence would be where the overall cost of power to the consumers goes down, our industrial competitiveness goes up, and consumer empowerment becomes prosumer empowerment,” said JVN Subramanyam, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
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He was speaking at a session titled ‘Global Mission on AI for Energy Scaling through citizen-centric India Energy Stack’ at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Subramanyam said Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to be a “game changer,” particularly for distributed renewable energy.
India has been adding renewable energy capacity at a significant pace, with the country’s total installed capacity now at around 520 GW, the official said. Of this, around 35 GW is distributed renewable energy capacity.
He noted that while capacity expansion is underway, “the challenge lies in the distribution systems and where assets that are being developed across the country need to be maintained.”
The remarks underline the operational and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed alongside technology deployment.
Hemang Jani, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director for India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the World Bank, said AI should not be viewed merely as a technological tool. “AI should not be seen as just a technology, but as a development infrastructure,” Jani said.
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According to him, while AI “cannot bring fiscal prudence and governance reforms,” it can enable such outcomes by supporting systems and processes.
