India has set an ambitious rooftop solar photovoltaic target of 40 GW by 2021-22. However, with only approximately 6.8 GW installed till date, it looks increasingly difficult to reach the target in less than a year. One of the primary deterrents is the reluctance of distribution companies (discoms) to promote the rooftop solar segment. The finances of most discoms are in a beleaguered state. This is due to free power for agriculture, unmitigated aggregate technical and commercial losses, and failing cross-subsidy regimes.

A monthly newsletter featuring CSTEP commentary, publications, events, and other developments.

India has set some ambitious renewable energy (RE) targets for itself — 175 GW by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.

This is CSTEP's Annual Report for the year 2020-21.

In this year’s annual report, we look at a Resilient CSTEP. We did not let the uncertainties and complexities posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to affect our work, which continued unhindered without compromising on the heath and well-being of our employees. All our Sectors and support functions worked in harmony to ensure seamless transition to a Work-From-Home arrangement. CSTEP continued to create an impact and enrich the lives of people through new initiatives and collaborations. 

India’s power sector has been witnessing a large share of renewable energy (RE) being integrated into the grid. This is expected to grow at a high pace in the future as well. With increasing RE share, storage, especially pumped-hydro energy storage (PHES), plays a key role in dispatching the energy from RE resources, peak load shaving, frequency regulation, voltage support, providing round-the-clock support, and balancing the grid, among others.