At Mumbai Climate Week 2026, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet announced the launch of the India Grids of the Future Accelerator, a national platform through which the Alliance will deploy up to $25 million to modernize power distribution, integrate renewable energy and storage, and prepare India’s grids for rapid demand growth. The Alliance signed Memoranda of Understanding with distribution companies (DISCOMs) in Delhi and Rajasthan, designating them as the first cohort of “Champion Utilities” under the Grids of the Future initiative and with the All India DISCOM Association (AIDA).
Reflecting on the launch, Woochong Um, CEO of the Global Energy Alliance, said India’s clean energy transition is entering a decisive new phase defined not only by access but also by the ability of power systems to deliver reliability, flexibility, and scale. Through the India Grids of the Future Accelerator, the Alliance is working closely with utilities to build the digital, financial, and institutional capacity needed to integrate renewable energy and storage at scale. He noted that together with ENTICE 3.0, the initiative represents a shift from pilots to platforms and from ambition to execution at scale.
Speaking at the launch, Jayant Sinha, President of Eversource Capital and former Union Minister and Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, said that as India moves toward the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, reliable, modern, and future-ready power systems will be essential for sustaining growth and energy security. He added that the recent Union Budget underscores the importance of strengthening infrastructure to enable the clean energy transition at scale, and initiatives such as the India Grids of the Future Accelerator demonstrate how coordinated, delivery-focused partnerships can translate national priorities into tangible outcomes.
The launch brought together senior leaders from government, utilities, and the clean energy ecosystem, including Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation; Seema Paul, Program Director for India at Sequoia Climate Foundation; Jayant Sinha, President of Eversource Capital; and Sujith Nair, CEO of FIDE.
Announcing the India Grids of the Future Accelerator at Mumbai Climate Week, Dr. Rajiv J. Shah said energy access remains one of the biggest challenges to human well-being, while also representing a major global opportunity. He highlighted that India has become a global leader in delivering clean, affordable, and abundant energy to the people of the world’s most populous country. The Accelerator, he noted, will build on this progress through a first-of-its-kind public, private, and philanthropic collaboration aimed at modernizing India’s grid into a digitized and flexible system capable of meeting 21st-century energy demands and serving as a model for countries worldwide.
Having helped achieve near-universal electricity access, India is now entering a new phase focused on moving from connections to energy abundance. The Global Energy Alliance’s Grids of the Future initiative is designed to address this transition through a globally coordinated and locally delivered platform that brings together governments, utilities, financiers, innovators, and technical partners to modernize power systems across the Global South.
By 2030, the India Grids of the Future Accelerator aims to drive grid transformation through its D4 framework. This includes digitalization (D1) of utilities using digital twins and advanced analytics, enabling smarter integration of distributed energy resources (D2), accelerating the democratization (D3) of electricity by empowering consumers to participate in the energy system, and advancing the development (D4) of a strong innovation ecosystem to scale future-ready solutions. Through this integrated approach, the initiative seeks to support 15 or more utilities and positively impact nearly 300 million people across India. The Accelerator will onboard an initial cohort of utilities for early implementation, convene government partners, technology providers, investors, and philanthropic funders into a delivery-focused coalition, and work toward a three-year, $100 million fundraising effort from 2026 to 2028 to unlock large-scale public and private investment.
The event also marked the launch of ENTICE 3.0, the latest edition of the Alliance’s flagship Energy Transitions Innovation Challenge. This edition focuses particularly on energy storage and grid digitalization, including demonstrations of non-lithium storage solutions and innovations designed to rapidly digitize large volumes of grid assets to support faster planning, operations, and renewable energy integration. By connecting innovators directly with utilities, policymakers, and capital providers, ENTICE 3.0 aims to move promising technologies from pilot stages to large-scale deployment.
The announcements made at Mumbai Climate Week 2026 reaffirm the Global Energy Alliance’s long-term commitment to India, supporting national climate goals while advancing the country’s vision for growth, jobs, and energy security through 2047.
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet builds transformative public, private, and philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Through its two interconnected global pillars, Grids of the Future, focused on innovation and infrastructure, and Energy and Opportunity, focused on jobs and livelihoods, the Alliance works toward a vision of a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives.
