How GEAPP is powering the rise of clean energy start-ups in India

Time of India

5 days ago

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Start-ups in the clean energy space face significant challenges in developing commercially viable solutions for the energy ecosystem due to the highly regulated nature of the electricity sector in the country and the absence of an open market, said Saurabh Kumar , VP-India, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet ( GEAPP ), an alliance of organisations working on green energy.'You can't really do business with distribution companies unless there is a regulatory requirement or a regulatory approval. Therefore, it's also very limited space per se for clean energy start-ups and the interest from venture capitalists (VC) is also a little muted,' he said.Aimed at supporting innovative solutions from start-ups and addressing funding gaps, particularly within the energy infrastructure sector, GEAPP in 2023 launched its flagship innovation initiative, the Energy Transitions Innovation Challenge (ENTICE). In January this year, the platform launched the second edition, ENTICE 2.0, emphasising its commitment to supporting and scaling investable opportunities.Kumar noted that one of the key learnings from the previous edition is that the cash awarded to winning start-ups does not have a substantial impact. 'We realised from the feedback we got from participants, jury members, and players in the ecosystem that very few entities in India provide technical support and assistance to start-ups. This whole sector is completely regulated. Challenges like this have been solved in places like California, but not in India. And the reason is very simple. There is no regulatory assistance…no regulatory push to solve these kinds of problems,' he said.There is data available from smart meters, but no one in the country is using it, Kumar said. 'This is what will be a major difference between ENTICE 1.0 and 2.0. Once the jury selects the winners, we will work with them between September and March, and we have a tie-up with at least two discoms. One is BSES in Delhi, and another is Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JVVNL) in Rajasthan. They will provide these start-ups with data from smart metres and other things that are needed. Then we will work with these starters on that data to create a business model for demand response or demand flexibility and take it to the regulator and get this approved. Only then we hope to start the commercial operations of these start-ups in this particular area,' he said.This exercise is scheduled to take place between September and March, and GEAPP hopes to trigger off regulatory mandates to other states. The goal is to integrate this over the next one or two years into the whole operation of the distribution utility.Kumar said that they are creating a digital twin of the distribution network to establish a robust digital public infrastructure (DPI). 'When I say digital twin, I mean three things. Number one, providing each of the assets that is part of the low voltage network of a discom, a unique digital identity. Two, collecting the technical specifications of that asset. And three, we are looking at their connectivity. These assets are distribution transformers, poles, switch-chairs, substations, etc. The total number of such assets in a typical discom is about 80-90 lakh. So, it's a massive exercise,' he said.He added that when this becomes the digital infrastructure which will belong to the discoms, this data will belong to the distribution utility. GEAPP and the ENTICE team are doing this on behalf of the distribution utility but are also trying to encourage them to make at least some parts public.Bengaluru-based REConnect Energy, a digital energy platform startup, was the winner of ENTICE 1.0. Giving a description of how the system works like UPI, Vishal Pandya, Chairman & MD, REConnect Energy said that in pre-UPI times, there was NFTS and RTGL transactions, and before that people pretty much had to walk into a bank, fill in some receipts and then the money would get credited.'So pre-UPI, the interface to transact was only via banks. In electricity today, the interface to transact is only via distribution companies. You need consent and network access. But imagine if these transmission companies become enablers where you have an account. The way you have an account with a bank. Now you want to transact as a generator or a consumer or as a prosumer, you need approvals in place if you want to import or export power. It's not ultra fast where you decide today to transact and you can start trading. So that can change,' he said.He added that the other governing principle of DPI is that it becomes kind of a common language to interact with different infrastructure layers.'So there are a set of devices or infrastructure layers within your network, transformers, energy metres, and so forth. A discom would be storing them in a certain fashion. The discoms would have different OEMs storing the same information in certain fashion. The moment you switch from Network A to Network B, you will see that the entire nomenclature is different. So there is too much translation and translation error that takes place. Now if all this data is synchronised, then these infra layers can start engaging with each other in a common language. The data becomes more democratised,' he said.Anujesh Dwivedi, Partner, Deloitte India, said that digitised and synchronised electrical grids and electrical equipment are an inevitable imperative that is likely to be achieved in the foreseeable future. As power generation becomes increasingly decentralised due to the emergence of small/modular renewable energy resources, along with the introduction of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and EVs, it will soon be impractical to operate electricity grids in the traditional, relatively passive mode.'Grids will increasingly become automated and intelligent and be able to self-balance to address a wide range of variations on the supply side. Notwithstanding the same, it would be equally important to implement demand/consumption-side measures wherein the load at an equipment level could be controlled to respond to varying supply-side conditions (commonly known as demand response). The cost of meeting the load curve, purely through supply-side interventions, in a NET ZERO scenario could become extremely prohibitive and lead to the creation of assets that will remain highly underutilised. Therefore, digitisation of electricity equipment, on the demand side will be an important lever to balancing the grid,' he said.Kumar pointed out that the target is to bring out commercially viable business models which can be fully taken up by the discom and the regulator. "This will create new revenue streams, and for a discom, this will help them reduce their procurement losses."