Grid oscillations occur due to transmission voltage fluctuations and can significantly damage power transmission equipment or cause massive blackouts. File | Photo credit: The Hindu
Despite adding a significant amount of renewable energy capacity by 2025, the inability of India’s existing power grid infrastructure to seamlessly transition between coal and solar wind power is leading to “dangerous” situations, Ghanshyam Prasad, chairman of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) – India’s top energy planning body – said on Thursday (26Feb2626).
One such situation occurred “earlier in the week” when an “oscillation” was felt in Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, which was registered in Rajasthan.
“We have already started to see that because of the variability of the sun and the wind, oscillations have started to happen on the grid and that is really dangerous. We need to stop them as quickly as possible. In one of the oscillations that I looked at two days ago, I found that the oscillation was generated in Rajasthan and it was even felt in Kudankulam. So you can imagine the impact very carefully because our entire grid needs to be careful,” he said. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Energy Transformation Summit.
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Grid oscillations occur due to transmission voltage fluctuations and can significantly damage power transmission equipment or cause massive blackouts. Kudankulam hosts India’s largest nuclear reactors. However, Mr. Prasad did not suggest that the oscillations would harm the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam.
In 2025, India added 48 GW of renewable energy capacity – the most in a single year. This expansion nearly doubled the previous year’s additions, largely due to a massive increase in solar and wind projects.
Last year, non-fossil fuel sources accounted for 52% of India’s installed power capacity (about 264 gigawatts), or more than coal, gas and lignite combined. However, almost 75% of the actual electricity that flows as electricity comes from coal because it is the only fuel source that is available on demand, unlike solar and wind. India’s power grid is not “smart” enough to switch between sources quickly, and insufficient battery storage contributes to the oscillations Mr. Prasad referred to.
These inconsistencies have forced power producers to implement “curbs,” where solar and wind power are deliberately taken off the grid even though they are generating electricity. Between May and December 2025, India has curtailed about 2,300 gigawatt-hours of solar power.
Mr Prasad added that India has a “long way to go” to meet its energy target, which is likely to see nearly four times today’s installed capacity by 2047. “That means we are targeting 500 gigawatts by 2030… By 2070, this number could reach around 6,000 gigawatts in that time frame,” he said, referring to India’s goals of being carbon neutral by 2070. “We have a long way to go. We cannot take shortcuts to see the right perspective and we all have to be prepared.”
Published – 27 Feb 2026 21:56 IST
