Vinay Pabba

Clean Energy nomad, formerly IRS, TEDx speaker, IIT-M & XLRI-J alum. RTs/Likes ≠ endorsements.

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

In my latest chat with Businessworld, I laid out the stark realities redefining our clean energy trajectory:

1/ 📉 Tariffs Have Bottomed: Vanilla solar pricing has hit the floor. The next frontier is the quality and shape of power. The shift to firm, round-the-clock (RTC) power means BESS integration must be highly surgical.

2/ 🔄 Open Access is a Strategy Game: Demand is booming (8 GW added in 2025), but the 'build-and-forget' era is dead. Capital is aggressively migrating only to states with policy clarity. Financial models must now explicitly price in 'regulatory behavior risk.'

3/ 🚀 500 GW by 2030: This isn't an aspirational poster target; it is firmly within striking distance. But winning players won't just chase megawatt headlines—they will treat supply chain resilience as a core design parameter.

🔗 Full deep-dive interview context and technical breakdown here: https://t.co/MnT8s2CBh2

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

If there is one piece of read that is truly insightful -- on why india's Energy transition is slow -- you should read this ... Highly recommended.

https://t.co/NjUcwwCkWw

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

Execution complexity of wind project has risen manifold. Manufacturing is no longer the bottleneck. Execution is .

https://t.co/CazMAsKVeg

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

We closed a long standing term loan with SBI - commercial street branch today. Company is going debt free !!

It marked the end of a 7 year banking relationship with SBI. We went through 5 Relationship managers, three different servicing branches in this period.

Contrary to the stereotyped perceptions of red-tape, poor servicing , lack of customer sensitivity etc., that we tend to brush all PSU banks with, our experience with SBI was refreshing different.

There was an old world warmth , politeness , firm when necessary -- easy to work with otherwise -- kind of relationship.

This is not easy to achieve for a PSU bank , and less so for a mammoth like SBI. But they still seem to make it possible.

A special thanks to all of the team (especially our current RM - Nagendra) at the Commercial Branch for making this a memorable journey worth remembering.

Keep up the good work @TheOfficialSBI !!

Hope to rekindle the relationship soon !!

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

To be quoted by a reputed business journal is a privilege and an honor.

This piece by @MatthamRamesh in Business Line quotes my linked post on Electrifying consumption extensively.

It

a) reiterates my position on the critical need to increase electricity's share in Total Final Consumption (TFC) to achieve true energy security.

b) Highlights my specific policy recommendations, including mandating electric boilers for low-temperature industrial heating and establishing phased replacement schedules for diesel and fuel-oil systems.

c) Emphasizes my argument that direct bans and mandates are far more effective at accelerating the transition from oil to electric vehicles than the current subsidy-driven approach.

Link to my Linkedin Post: https://t.co/i1V7bFM69u

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

BESS installs are becoming a juggernaut

Globally energy storage (excluding Pumped Stroage) crossed 100GW for the first time in CY 2025.

Interesting this is a 1:6 ratio of deployment wrt solar. (1 MW of ESS for every 6 MW of solar deployed) . This is expected to come down to 1:4 in 2026.

Interestingly some state energy storage mandates propose a very aggressive pathway. For example Maharasthra's new energy policy which came into effect from 1-4-26 laydown a 2:1 Ratio for all new RE installs slated to go up 4:1 in two years.

Energy storage mandates are expected to be a prime drive for BESS deployment going forward. We seem to choosing a very aggressive path to BESS deployment.!! While that is good , it is important for policy frameworks to enable and facilitate alternate monetisation pathways for the full stack of energy services that BESS can deliver.

We cannot have BESS scaling with peak shifting alone.

https://t.co/FWUtRaI36c

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

As senior power sector professionals working on the frontiers of clean energy and energy transition, I have always been wanting to take up voluntary work , with an intention to give back to society.

TrustBridge is a voluntary organisation doing some pioneering work in building State capacity in the regulatory domain and seeks to improve India's business environment by improving the Rule of Law.

Happy to lend some of my time , experience to TrustBridge to further the cause - by joining their Electricity Advisory Group.

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

In this PowerLine feature on CfDs , I take the view that the CfD scheme is a great start , but we still need to work on scaling the scheme , lengthening PPA tenors and restore developer upside..

Read the full article here: https://t.co/RVEw4eSYvy

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

India's energy transition is longer about meeting some rarified climate change goal.

It is increasingly about energy security, the ability to "fuel itself" and reduce dependence on the theatrics elsewhere in the world. This is the stand I take in this interview with Business World

https://t.co/Am5S9pCUuX

The world is living what @MarkJCarney eloquently said at Davos

A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself.

India's RE push is about this strategic intent.

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

Prices dropped to zero on the power exchange, for a full three time blocks yesterday. There is a lesson lurking here.

In euphoria of Solar build out in the last decade , which saw the scaling of solar capacity from ~7GW to ~150GW , we forgot one thing , as a collective amnesia.. "Value deflation".

In simple teams it means that every additional solar electron put on the Grid has lesser value than the previous solar electron.

Economic value of solar power declines as more of it is added to the grid. Because solar panels all generate electricity at the same time (when the sun is shining), they flood the market simultaneously, driving wholesale electricity prices toward zero during peak production hours. 

Without "systemic innovation" (like storage, long-distance transmission, and demand response), the falling value of solar would eventually outpace the falling cost of hardware, stalling the energy transition.

We are seeing the initial signs of that on our Grid now. the NIL prices during day time on the power market are reflective of Value deflation inherent solar.

[Vinay Pabba @nachson]

Civil service day being celebrated today owes its origin to the first speech given by Sardar Patel to the Civil servants in Metcalf house on this day in 1947 where he used the phrase “the steel frame” for the first time. Commemorating this event as Civil Service day actually began in 2006.

Yours truly has had his own tryst with Civil service day of 2009. I was part of a team from Indian Customs that was awarded the Prime minister’s award for excellence in public administration for the Risk Management Project that we executed pan India.

The Risk Management Project aimed at expediting release of consignments from Customs by taking a calibrated approach to assessment and examination of import cargo (sea, land and air) by leveraging IT systems, Risk profiling and system assessment of risk to revenue, public health and national security. It resulted in a drastic reduction of dwell times of cargo and brought about much needed transparency in Customs assessments and accelerated clearances of cargo from ports, airports and land customs stations pan – india.

To me , the most moving piece was that despite having left the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) by then, I was still invited to the award ceremony . Cherish my stint in the IRS!!

Here is to the team that delivered this transformative IT backbone to Indian Customs in an era without AI and without internet !!