Nandan Nilekani Leads India’s Digital Energy Grid Vision
Infosys Co-Founder to Drive Power Sector Digitization
Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, will lead a new task force. This team aims to digitize and decentralize India’s power sector. Officials close to the matter have confirmed this.
Key Goals and Objectives
This will be the second time the government seeks Nilekani’s expertise for power sector reforms. The task force will operate under the Ministry of Power. It will receive funding through the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
- Reduce generation, transmission, and distribution costs by up to 25%.
- Transform the energy sector into the next UPI.
- Enable millions of small producers to join the Digital Energy Grid (DEG).
Vision for the Future
In March, Nilekani hinted at the energy sector’s upcoming transformation. He posted on X: “Energy is the next UPI! Millions of small producers will participate in the Digital Energy Grid (DEG).”
In February, the Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy (FIDE) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a whitepaper on the Digital Energy Grid. Nilekani co-authored the foreword of this report. The report outlined a vision of decentralized energy production and trading.
Pilot Project in Lucknow
A pilot for the DEG is set to launch soon in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It will use the Unified Energy Interface (UEI), a digital framework similar to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The goal is to reduce manual intervention in the power sector, potentially lowering costs for consumers.
The FIDE-IEA report proposed a future where households with solar panels or EV batteries could generate, store, and trade energy. This means they would not just consume energy but also contribute to the grid.
“In this world, millions of everyday citizens become active participants in the energy economy. They will transact not just with the grid, but directly with each other over a shared digital mesh,” a statement from FIDE explained.
