All you need to know about India Energy Stack - India's UPI moment for power sector

Time of India

07-07-2025

New Delhi: India's ambition to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047, coupled with its net-zero commitment by 2070, will dramatically increase its per capita energy consumption.
The complexity of managing a grid with a rising share of renewable generation — including rooftop solar and distributed energy — necessitates a fundamental shift in how data, systems, and decision-making are managed across the power sector.
Current systems remain fragmented. Distribution companies (
DISCOMs
), transmission entities (TRANSCOs), and generation companies (GENCOs) operate in digital silos, leading to inefficiencies and limiting innovation.
The
India Energy Stack
(IES) is proposed as a national Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to address this.
What are the key challenges in India's current power sector?
The sector faces four structural digital issues: lack of a unique identifier for consumers and assets, high dependency on proprietary systems, limited interoperability across utilities, and asymmetry in data availability. Despite the presence of smart meters and SCADA systems, there is no unified architecture to bring all stakeholders together on a real-time, secure, and standardised digital platform.
What is the India Energy Stack (IES)?
Envisioned by the Ministry of Power with REC as nodal agency and FSR Global as knowledge partner, IES is a modular, standardised, and secure DPI for the power sector. It draws inspiration from
Aadhaar
and
UPI
in the financial sector and aims to provide digital IDs for energy consumers and assets, promote interoperability via open APIs, standardise data formats, and enable new services like peer-to-peer energy trading, virtual power plants, and green tariffs.
What does the IES architecture look like?
IES is structured in three layers:
1.
Core infrastructure foundation
– Defines uniform data protocols and open registries.
2.
Core services
– Enables interoperability and consent-based data access across utilities.
3.
Applications and innovation platform
– Supports solutions such as dynamic pricing, real-time grid analytics, demand response, and smart tariffs.
A key application layer is the Utility Intelligence Platform (UIP) which builds on IES and helps integrate operational systems, provides analytics, and supports innovation using shared data.
How does IES benefit stakeholders like DISCOMs, consumers, and startups?
DISCOMs get real-time grid visibility and tools to optimise distributed generation. Consumers gain access to dynamic pricing, better grievance redressal, and portability across DISCOMs. Startups and innovators get a standardised sandbox environment with open APIs, enabling innovation without needing to build from scratch for each utility.
What are the next steps in implementation?
A 12-month Proof of Concept (PoC) is planned by the Ministry of Power. It will be tested across pilot utilities in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, focusing on both market-facing and utility-facing applications. The outcome will help develop a national blueprint for full-scale deployment. A parallel capacity-building programme will prepare the workforce to implement and operate IES.
How does it relate to past DPIs like Aadhaar and UPI?
Aadhaar provided unique identity, and UPI enabled interoperable payments. Similarly, IES aims to provide unique
digital energy IDs
and facilitate verifiable energy transactions. Just as Aadhaar and UPI unlocked new services in banking and government transfers, IES is expected to do the same for
energy fintech
and
decentralised energy markets
.
What is the long-term vision?
The India Energy Stack, once rolled out, is expected to improve transparency, boost policy formulation through real-time data, and enhance energy access and reliability. It promotes a federated, decentralised system that builds on existing digital assets, avoids duplication, and unlocks the full value of machine-to-machine data exchange.