Opinion India can lead the charge in creating a global and seamless energy network

The global energy landscape is undergoing a tectonic shift. Transportation, heating and legacy industries are all transitioning from fossil fuels to green electricity. The sun and wind are becoming the fuels of the future. But there’s a missing piece: While oil is traded globally, electricity isn’t. Oil prices move in lockstep across countries, electricity prices vary widely — from just 2 cents to over 20 cents per unit. A barrel of oil can be shipped practically worldwide, but we don’t yet have the ability to ship power across borders, oceans, and time zones at scale.

That’s changing. With advancements in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission, falling grid-scale battery storage costs and submarine cables capable of operating in the deepest oceans, a global electricity grid is now within reach. It’s not sci-fi; India’s One Sun One World One Grid mission already captures this bold vision of a world seamlessly connected through clean, renewable power. India boasts one of the world’s most extensive and robust power grids and is set to receive over $100 billion in investments in grid expansion and modernisation over the next eight years. Our grid already links Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. The next step? A 50 GW “energy superhighway” from Saudi Arabia to Japan.

In five years, a 10 GW link could connect us to Saudi Arabia. Since Saudi Arabia is already connecting to Egypt and Europe, India could, in theory, be linked to the European grid in five years. On the eastern front, another link to Japan would enable our midday solar surplus to meet their high evening demand, where electricity prices can soar to 23 cents per unit.

A study by the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) confirms that such a grid would deliver the lowest-cost power to all participating countries. With dollar-denominated power purchase agreements (PPAs) with foreign nations, India’s already low solar prices could fall to 1.5 cents per unit, making us the OPEC of renewables. In the next 10-15 years, we would be able to realise the vision: Rajasthan’s sun powers morning coffee in Saudi Arabia and Greece, and our wind farms keep Tokyo buzzing through the night.

A major bottleneck in the clean energy transition is storage. Bloomberg estimates that reaching net zero by 2050 will require 4,000 GW of energy storage — 50 times today’s capacity — demanding $177 billion in annual investment.

The world faces a severe shortage of storage infrastructure for excess renewable power. India, too, must overcome the challenge of scaling up storage at competitive prices. However, the good news is that storage costs are falling rapidly — battery prices have declined nearly 30 per cent in the last few years. Additionally, India’s vast hydropower potential can be leveraged for pumped storage solutions. By strategically integrating large-scale storage with HVDC transmission, we can create a seamless energy network that transfers surplus power across borders. This will significantly reduce dependence on localised storage, driving down costs for all.

India’s roadmap to becoming the world’s energy hub will require it to aggressively create domestic manufacturing capabilities in HVDC converters, submarine cables, energy storage and specialised cable-laying vessels to reduce costs and strategic dependencies. We must also scale up transmission links. This can be done by awarding 10 GW of HVDC corridors every three years, connecting to Saudi Arabia and Japan and targeting 50 GW of intercontinental capacity. With this improvement in technology, economies of scale will kick in and bring with them a cost advantage.

To lead the global energy transition, India must deploy 50 GWh of grid-scale battery energy storage (BESS) and pumped hydro storage (PHS) every year for the next decade. We must invite our neighbours to join a unified Indian grid, offering GNA (general network access) to these countries just as we do for all our states today. Once connected, the countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia Pacific will also start trading on our electricity exchanges. This will make India the hub of the global electricity trade.

Once trading starts, just as India’s five subgrids now have a single price on most days, this super grid would smooth out costs internationally. Positioned at the heart of the super grid, India would supply power to markets waking up on either side of us, ensuring round-the-clock renewable generation and exports.

By 2035, as global grids interconnect, connections with Russia, Europe, and the US will enable global energy trading. Just as India has revolutionised payments with UPI, we would build the global infrastructure for electricity clearing and settlement.

By 2047, India could flip from a $130 billion energy importer to a $100 billion clean electricity exporter. This would strengthen the rupee, lower inflation, improve our credit rating, and accelerate our path to becoming a developed economy.

The technologies are ready. The economics is compelling. The world is electrifying. And no country is better positioned than India to lead this charge. By 2047, India should not just be energy independent — we should be energy dominant, powering the world with our sun and wind. But this will only happen if we act now, with confidence that India’s century has just begun.

The writer is chairman of Resonia, Serentica, and managing director of Sterlite Power