E-Paper
Mumbai needs power around the clock, clean energy can now deliver it
This article is authored by Vineet Mittal, founder and chairman, Avaada Group.
Prefer HTon Google
On October 12, Mumbai's electricity demand crossed 4,300 MW for the second time this month. The city's own power plants supplied about 1,330 MW. Our utilities and grid operators met the rest by bringing in nearly 3,000 MW from outside the city and from the power exchanges. A peak of this size once belonged to May.
Mumbai is becoming one of the great financial and digital centres of the world, and that growth needs electricity every hour of the day. More homes have air-conditioners. Offices, metro lines and data centres are multiplying. The city had set an all-time record of 4,642 MW in June. October's peak is within about 7% of that level, because warm and humid weather now lasts well beyond the monsoon. Projections suggest the city's peak could reach about 6,500 MW by 2031, driven by metro lines, redevelopment and data centres.
Reliable, affordable and clean power today is the need of the hour and I the answer to this is round-the-clock renewable energy.
About 70% of Monday's peak was carried into the city from outside. That is natural for a dense island city with little room for large power plants. It also means that Mumbai's future supply will depend on the clean energy we build across Maharashtra, and on our ability to deliver it at every hour.
There is an energy security dimension as well. In September, gas-based power generation in India rose about 60% over last year, and additional gas for power comes mainly from imported LNG. Every unit of demand we meet with Indian sunshine, wind and water strengthens our energy independence.
For many years, the question about renewable energy was simple: What happens when the sun sets? Today we have a practical answer, and it comes from combining technologies rather than relying on any one of them.
Solar provides abundant, low-cost power through the day. Wind in western India is strongest during the monsoon months and often continues after sunset, when solar output falls. Battery storage shifts daytime solar into the evening peak, within seconds of being called upon. Pumped hydro storage holds large amounts of energy for longer periods and releases it whenever the grid needs it.
Together, these deliver what the industry calls Firm and Dispatchable Renewable Energy, or FDRE: Clean power supplied on a committed schedule, including at peak hours.
The economics have changed decisively. In January, solar power with six hours of battery storage was bid at ₹3.12 per unit in a national tender. Between April and June this year, storage supplied up to 4.1 GW of India's night-time peak demand. India's renewable generation also crossed 100 billion units in a single quarter for the first time this year. On many afternoons we now produce more solar power than we can use, and storage turns that surplus into evening supply.
Maharashtra has prepared for this moment with clarity and ambition. Under the leadership of chief minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis, the state aims to generate more than half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Few states have done as much on storage. The Sahyadri ranges make Maharashtra one of the best places in India for pumped storage, and the government has moved quickly to use this advantage. By July 2025, the state had signed agreements for 50 pumped storage projects with a combined capacity of 68,815 MW. Its Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Policy require distribution companies to procure storage equal to at least 10% of their demand by 2036.
The Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana 2.0 is bringing solar power to farm feeders through decentralised plants built close to substations. Farmers receive reliable power for irrigation in daylight hours instead of at night, and power is generated close to where it is used. For the first time in the state's history, electricity tariffs for Mahavitaran's consumers are also being reduced, beginning with a 10% cut in the first year. The chief minister has linked these savings to the growing share of green power in the state's purchases. These are significant achievements as they place Maharashtra among the leading states in India's energy transition. Round-the-clock clean power has been at the core of Avaada Group’s philosophy. Our 17.7 GWp of renewable energy portfolio brings together solar, wind, solar-wind hybrid, FDRE and solar-plus-storage projects, designed to deliver clean power at every hour. We recently completed India's largest financing in the FDRE segment, for our project in Bikaner, Rajasthan, which will supply firm and dispatchable clean power under a long-term agreement with SJVN.
Building on the state's strong foundation, five steps would help Mumbai meet its next peaks with clean power. This will include contracting round-the-clock renewable power wherein distribution utilities can sign long-term FDRE and solar-plus-storage contracts that deliver clean power at peak hours, not only at midday; placing storage inside the city by enabling batteries at Mumbai's substations to be charged when lines have spare capacity and discharged at the peak; bringing pumped storage projects into construction; asking large new loads to bring clean, firm power and by reducing the peak at its source.
All of this should be built with Indian hardware: Solar cells and modules, batteries, transformers and power electronics made in India.
Mumbai has always met its challenges by building. Its demand for power is a measure of its ambition, and Maharashtra's policies give us the tools to meet that demand with clean energy. With the state's leadership, the industry's capability and Indian manufacturing, Mumbai can show the country how a great city runs on it.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Vineet Mittal, founder and chairman, Avaada Group.
