India's energy transition, grid security hinge on strategic diversification

India's meteoric rise in clean energy is an irreversible trend. After all, 2024 proved to be yet another encore for the nation, as it accelerated its ascent among the world’s largest developers of renewable energy capacity. 

With an impressive 220 GW of installed capacity as of March 2025– including a staggering 107.9 GW from solar alone – we've rightfully earned international recognition for our climate leadership. 

Yet beneath these headline figures lurks a vulnerability that threatens to undermine not just our energy transition but our national security itself: the dangerous concentration of renewable assets in just a handful of states. Between 2018 and 2024, just two states – Rajasthan and Gujarat – added a combined 18,382 MW of renewable capacity, while all thirteen of our northern and north-eastern border states together managed barely 3,384 MW, less than one-fifth of that amount. 

 

This glaring strategic vulnerability demands immediate attention. 

Consider the implications for a moment. A coordinated physical attack on energy infrastructure in just two or three western states could potentially cripple the majority of India's renewable generation capacity. As we increasingly rely on these sources for our energy security, such geographic concentration essentially creates a single point of failure.

 

Would we concentrate our military assets in just two or three locations? Of course not. 

Yet somehow, we've allowed our energy infrastructure to develop precisely such a vulnerability. 

The problem isn't one of natural resource distribution. While Rajasthan's desert expanses may offer ideal conditions for solar power, many other states possess their own substantial renewable potential. The hinterland states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar receive some of the highest solar radiation in the country. Himalayan states offer tremendous hydropower opportunities. 

The north-east possesses significant biomass potential. Why, then, has development been so lopsided?

 

The disparity reveals as much a policy disconnect as natural limitations. Compare the growth rates: Himachal Pradesh saw just 7.7 per cent growth in renewable capacity while neighbouring Uttar Pradesh achieved 108 per cent. Nagaland managed only 13.7 per cent growth compared to West Bengal's 102.6 per cent. These stark contrasts cannot be explained by resource differences alone – they reflect structural barriers that market forces haven't overcome. 

Also, let's not get carried away with percentages – J&K and Ladakh's combined capacity addition over six years amounts to what Gujarat typically adds in just months. 

What's needed is central government intervention with purpose. Electricity sits on the concurrent list precisely to enable central action on matters of national importance – and few issues matter more than protecting our energy infrastructure from both physical and cyber threats. 

The existing approach to grid cybersecurity reflects a troubling tendency to secure systems as they are, not as they should be. India's Power Ministry has recognised cyber risks but largely treats them as technical problems requiring technical solutions.

The reality is more fundamental: our grid's very architecture – its geographic concentration – represents an inherent vulnerability that no amount of software patching can fully mitigate. 

Security experts have long advocated "defense in depth" – multiple layers of protection that don't rely on a single safeguard. Geographical diversification represents perhaps the most basic application of this principle to energy infrastructure. A strategically distributed network of renewable assets would create inherent resilience against both physical and cyber threats – the energy equivalent of not keeping all eggs in one basket. 

The economic arguments against diversification don't withstand scrutiny. Yes, project development in Himachal Pradesh or Arunachal Pradesh costs more than in Rajasthan. But these calculations typically ignore the security premium that geographical diversification provides. When assessing project viability in remote or challenging regions, we must incorporate— the value of grid hardening in vulnerable zones, enhanced cybersecurity infrastructure for distributed assets, risk premiums for challenging terrain and integration costs for hybrid models that improve consistency. 

 

Regulatory frameworks must evolve to recognise both ‘strategic premium’ and ‘cybersecurity premium’ as legitimate components in tariff determination. Projects enhancing grid security through location diversity deserve differentiated tariff structures that acknowledges their contribution to national resilience. 

Fortunately, the same technologies making renewable energy increasingly competitive also enable more distributed deployment. Real-time analytics, AI-based intrusion detection, quantum-resistant encryption, and decentralised storage solutions can transform the challenge of managing distributed generation into a strategic advantage – creating a more resilient, secure grid architecture.

 

The path forward requires targeted incentives for underrepresented regions: capital subsidies for hill states and the northeast, customized funding structure for difficult terrains, waived inter-state transmission charges, and expedited renewable certificate approvals. These investments in national security advance energy justice, rural employment, and balanced regional development. 

India's renewable energy journey stands at a defining moment. Our quantitative achievements deserve celebration, but the qualitative aspects – particularly geographic diversification for security and resilience – can no longer be ignored. 

We need a comprehensive national roadmap with firm milestones for distributed deployment, especially in strategic border regions and underserved areas. The concentration of renewable assets in just a few states might have expedited our capacity growth, but it has created vulnerabilities we can ill afford. 

Strategic diversification would inherently enhance security by creating natural redundancy, distributing critical infrastructure across jurisdictions, enabling more effective zero-trust architectures, allowing for isolated operation of grid segments if compromised, and dramatically reducing the impact radius of successful attacks. By transforming India's renewable energy landscape from centralised hotspots to a strategically distributed network, we can ensure that clean energy powers not just our economy but our national security for generations to come. 

The economic costs of a risk-immune energy transition may seem higher initially, but the security costs of violating strategic considerations are far greater.   (The author is the CEO of BluPine Energy) 

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