The Challenge of being Relevant - The Energy Sector Story

Just as i read through the news article about India's first RTC tender (400 MW) result which was won at a tariff of INR 2.99/kWh, i recollected of a subject which every B school grad is taught, infact in today's world everyone is taught of it, called "Strategic Innovation". One particular thing in that subject which fascinated me the most was the Life-cycle curve and the importance of Inflection (time and again) to be sustainable in long run. This is true for anything in the world, from services to products to technologies to we ourselves.

When we try to fit renewables, coal and storage in the curve, this is what i feel their present positions are in overall life-cycle. Coal is already in its late maturity, renewables is starting its transition to early maturity/ late growth (to sound positive) and storage is in its early growth phase (overall, some a bit more up in the curve some more to the base). What renewables now direly need is Inflection so that it can extend its growth phase (refer the dotted extension), what coal needs is maybe something to extend its maturity phase so that the decline phase can be delayed. Thus RTC is a great proposition which helps both, but wait.... not so easy, this can be sustainable only when renewables become robust in its growth and that can be provided by storage of energy, thus making RE Responsible and Reliable. In helping renewables being reliable, the same also provides growth impetus to storage which itself is in the nascent stage as a sector at present. The tariffs discovered in the subject tender and also the last tender of 1.2 GW shows clearly that storage is very much in the game and the numbers will only further come down in days to come, making it more and more competitive, with new build coal and gas plants.

The challenge for storage however is also to beat the shark-fin effect (a deviation from the conventional bell curved life cycle shape), that means storage as a technology will need to innovate itself everyday to remain relevant else it can reach maturity very fast. So, all in all, India is in for a great transition in the way it foresees Energy. In every way this is the way to remain relevant and sustainable for all the types of fuels present in India's generation mix.

Oh! Did i forgot to mention.... this applies to us as human beings too!!!! Did you discover your inflection point yet? or should i ask "Did you update yourself today?"

Link to the news item: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/india-wins-deal-for-24x7-supply-of-green-power/articleshow/75638806.cms