Lay BRICS to solve next energy challenge

India’s energy story in 2025 was one of remarkable momentum. It became the largest recipient of development finance funding, a recognition of its credibility as a destination for green investment. Renewables now account for 50.07% of India’s total installed power capacity, third highest globally in overall renewable capacity as well as in solar energy production. Renewable energy (RE) tariffs, ranging Rs 2-3 per kWh, are among the lowest. India is targeting 500 Gw of installed RE capacity by 2030, reflecting the scale and seriousness of its clean energy commitment.

Yet, a closer look at the data reveals a critical gap: despite the progress in capacity, India still lags behind on energy efficiency. 

Building generation capacity is the first chapter of energy transition. India has executed this effectively, with installed power capacity reaching 520.51 Gw in FY26 and recording the highest annual addition (11%). Over the past decade, power shortages have fallen sharply from 4.2% to 0.03%. Today, nearly one-third of India’s energy demand is met through renewable sources, with solar accounting for more than two-thirds.

The second chapter—storage, grid intelligence, and distribution efficiency—is where India now needs to focus. Despite achieving a power-surplus status, frequent outages persist, largely due to inadequate transmission capacity. These stem from both strategic gaps and operational inefficiencies within the transmission system. Since FY19, the pace of transmission line expansion has consistently fallen short of targets, with only 58% of planned lines commissioned in 2025. At the same time, nearly 71% of Inter-State Transmission System corridors remain underutilised, operating at below 30% capacity. As a result, huge amounts of generated electricity (estimated at around 1.93×10 kWh) are lost due to transmission bottlenecks, while over 50 Gw of RE capacity remains stranded nationwide, leading to project delays and increasing per-unit transmission costs.

Transmission constraints also undermine the financial viability of investments. As shown by Nicholas Ryan (2021), limited transmission capacity restricts inter-regional trade. Alleviating grid congestion in India could increase market surplus by up to 22% by improving competition in the wholesale power market, enough to justify investments. Grid-scale battery storage, transmission efficiency, and smart distribution networks are technologies that will determine whether India’s renewable investments deliver their full economic and social returns. The question is how to close the gap quickly, and with which partners.

The answer, as it turns out, may lie within BRICS itself.

Each of India’s BRICS partners holds a specific technology that corresponds to a specific Indian need. And each of them needs something that only India’s scale can provide in return.

China has built the most advanced ecosystem for battery storage and grid-scale technology. Its manufacturers dominate lithium-ion storage capacity, and its grid management systems are among the most sophisticated. What China needs are large, high-volume, credible deployment markets to justify the next generation of cost reduction investment and to demonstrate commercial viability at scales that will matter globally through 2030. India, with its rapidly expanding RE base, competitive tariffs, and relatively low cost of capital for grid-scale projects among developing economies, is one of the few markets large enough to meaningfully absorb and scale such deployment.

Russia brings decades of civilian nuclear expertise—reactor design, fuel cycle management, and operational systems. Nuclear baseload is increasingly recognised as an essential complement to intermittent renewable generation, providing the dispatchable round-the-clock power that solar and wind cannot. India has well-established nuclear expansion ambitions as reflected in the recent Cabinet approval for a small modular nuclear reactor policy. India also has a clear interest in reactor partnerships that sit outside Western-controlled supply chains. A Russia-India civilian nuclear cooperation framework, formalised through BRICS, serves both countries’ energy security interests.

Brazil’s green hydrogen programme is one of the most under-appreciated energy transitions today. Its combination of surplus renewable generation, industrial hydrogen infrastructure, and institutional experience with large-scale bioenergy transitions has produced a working model for producing and deploying green hydrogen at industrial scale.

Brazil needs to internationalise this model, finding partner markets that can co-develop the standards, financing structures, and supply chains that make green hydrogen globally scalable. India, which has committed to producing 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, is expected to mobilise investments worth $91.95 billion under its National Green Hydrogen Mission. India’s electrolyser capacity has already seen a threefold increase, with projected green hydrogen and ammonia capacity expected to exceed 10 million metric tonnes by 2030, effectively doubling the government’s own target. It’s therefore the natural partner for Brazil to internationalise its green energy model.

South Africa brings expertise in distribution that has been tested under demanding conditions—managing distribution networks, demand resilience, and community-level energy governance. India’s own distribution landscape, with its mix of urban density and rural reach, presents challenges that South Africa’s institutional knowledge is well-suited to address. A BRICS-mediated partnership with India would demonstrate the value of South Africa’s grid expertise at a scale and visibility that its domestic context alone cannot provide.

BRICS energy cooperation has long been finance-led, focused on lending, co-financing, and green bonds. But for India today, the constraint is no longer only capital—it’s also technology, systems capability, and the institutional architecture to scale energy efficiently.

India has the ambition and the capital—BRICS has the technology. The gigawatts are being built, and the investments are flowing. BRICS 2026 is the moment to ensure they are stored, transmitted, and used to their full potential.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of Financial Express.