India Energy Stack,  a digital platform transforming India’s energy landscape and paving the way for a sustainable future.

The Power Challenge Facing India

India today stands at a critical energy crossroads. A nation of 1.4 billion people rapidly industrializing, with millions of citizens accessing reliable electricity for the first time, while simultaneously racing to meet ambitious climate goals.

This presents a defining challenge: How to balance skyrocketing energy demand with the urgent need to transition to renewables? How to unite thousands of disparate systems, utilities, and energy sources into a cohesive whole?

I believe the answer lies in reimagining the entire digital infrastructure that powers India’s energy ecosystem.

The Solution: India Energy Stack

Drawing inspiration from India’s wildly successful digital public infrastructure initiatives like UPI (which revolutionized payments) and Aadhaar (which provided digital identity to billions), I’ve conceptualized the India Energy Stack (IES) as a vision for the country’s energy future.

IES isn’t just another government platform—it’s a comprehensive digital backbone that connects every facet of the energy ecosystem through open APIs, standardized protocols, and modular architecture.

The India Energy Stack is more than just digital infrastructure—it’s a catalyst for energy transformation.

Why Traditional Systems Fall Short

For decades, India’s energy sector has struggled with fragmentation. Most of the utilities operate in silos with incompatible systems. Data remains locked away in proprietary formats. Consumers have limited visibility into their energy usage. Renewable providers struggle to integrate with aging grid infrastructure.

The result? Inefficiency, waste, and barriers to innovation at a time when rapid transformation is essential for the nation’s future.

A Digital Architecture for Energy Democracy

What makes the IES vision truly revolutionary is its layered approach that borrows from modern tech architecture:

The Foundation: Core Data Infrastructure

At the base level, IES establishes digital “registries” that serve as the single source of truth for the entire ecosystem:

Energy Identity Registry: Creates unique digital IDs or Unique Energy Identity (UEI) for everything from solar panels to substations

Utility Registry: Maps all energy providers and their service territories

Renewable Asset Registry: Catalogs every distributed energy resource across the country

Consumer Registry: Securely manages consumer data while giving users control

But what truly sets this layer apart is its approach to data. Rather than creating another government database, IES establishes a federated data sharing framework where information flows securely between stakeholders based on consent.

I envision farmers with small solar installations being able to securely share generation data with grid operators without compromising privacy. Or consumers authorizing third-party apps to analyze their usage patterns to save money, or seamlessly port from one state to another.

 The Engine Room: Core Services

Built atop the data infrastructure, the Core Services layer provides the essential building blocks that power day-to-day operations:

Payment Gateway: Seamlessly handles billing, subsidies, and incentives through integration with India’s digital payment networks

Data Exchange: Enables secure, real-time data sharing between organizations

Analytics Engine: Transforms raw data into actionable insights for grid optimization

Workflow Engine: Automates complex processes that once required manual intervention

The Innovation Layer: Solutions Platform

The top layer is where the magic happens. By leveraging the standardized infrastructure below, a vibrant ecosystem of applications and services can flourish:

Energy Trading Platforms: Enabling peer-to-peer energy transactions between prosumers

Smart Consumer Apps: Giving users unprecedented control over their energy usage

Grid Management Tools: Helping utilities integrate renewables while maintaining stability

Virtual Power Plants: Aggregating distributed resources to support the grid during peak demand

Real-World Impact: The Anticipated Future

The power of the IES concept isn’t just theoretical—once fully implemented, it will transform how energy flows through India’s economy in tangible ways:

For Citizens

I anticipate citizens will receive notifications when electricity prices are about to spike due to projected demand, along with AI-powered recommendations for shifting usage. Smart homes will automatically respond, pre-cooling houses and scheduling EVs to charge when solar generation peaks.

I envision rural entrepreneurs being able to monetize excess solar generation by selling directly to nearby businesses through digital marketplaces—all with secure, automated payments that weren’t previously possible.

For Utilities

Traditional grid operators will evolve into platform orchestrators. With real-time visibility across networks, they’ll move from reactive to predictive operations. Machine learning algorithms will forecast maintenance needs before failures occur. Dynamic load balancing will keep the grid stable even as renewable generation fluctuates throughout the day.

For Innovators

The standardized APIs and open data (with appropriate privacy controls) will create a fertile ground for startups and researchers. New business models will emerge as entrepreneurs build specialized applications on top of the stack without having to recreate the underlying infrastructure—dramatically lowering barriers to entry for new energy innovations.

Beyond Technology: Governance for the Common Good

What makes this vision for IES truly revolutionary is its governance model. Unlike proprietary platforms that create winner-takes-all dynamics, IES is designed as a digital public good (DPG) with:

Federated Control: Balancing central coordination with local agency

Multi-stakeholder Oversight: Ensuring representation across government, industry, and civil society

Open Standards: Preventing vendor lock-in and enabling competition

Inclusive Design: Supporting multiple access channels to ensure no one is left behind

The Road Ahead: Expanding the Vision

The India Energy Stack represents more than just technological innovation—it’s a reimagining of how critical infrastructure can be governed in the digital age. As it scales across the country, several exciting developments lie on the horizon:

AI-Powered Grid Intelligence: Advanced machine learning will enable increasingly sophisticated forecasting and optimization

Climate Action Integration: Direct linking with carbon accounting systems to accelerate decarbonization

Regional Expansion: Extending the model to neighboring countries, creating an integrated South Asian energy market

The Bigger Picture: A Blueprint for Change

I believe India’s approach offers valuable lessons for other nations navigating similar challenges. By treating digital infrastructure as a public good rather than a proprietary asset, the vision for IES demonstrates how thoughtful architecture can democratize access, foster innovation, and accelerate the clean energy transition.

In a world where energy systems and digital systems are increasingly intertwined, the India Energy Stack provides a blueprint for digital infrastructure that serves people, planet, and prosperity.

What digital innovations do you think could transform the energy landscape in your region? Share your thoughts at mail[at]arunshekhawat[dot]in