Energy pathways and security
How can countries meet growing energy needs while reducing costs, emissions, and fuel dependence?
Energy research & public policy
Nikit Abhyankar
Understanding energy systems.
Informing public policy.
Dr. Nikit Abhyankar is a faculty member at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, and Co-Faculty Director of the India Energy and Climate Center. He is also a Scientist in the Energy Markets and Planning Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
His research examines how countries can take advantage of dramatic declines in clean energy costs to meet their energy and development needs at the lowest cost, while building on existing infrastructure and institutions. His work spans the power sector, transportation, industry, and energy markets, with a particular emphasis on in-depth techno-economic analysis and policy design. It covers the United States and major economies including India, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Vietnam.
He regularly advises national and state governments, regulators, and utilities in multiple countries on designing clean energy policies and programs.
He has published over 100 journal articles and research reports, and his research has been widely covered in the media. Nikit holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from Stanford University.
Research directions
All research themes →Storage, markets, and reliability
What makes clean electricity dependable when demand is high and solar output falls?
Making more of the electricity grid
How much can existing grid infrastructure contribute to a faster clean-energy transition?
Selected publications
Complete bibliography →-
Communications Earth & Environment
Aligning offshore wind deployment with local priorities to accelerate power system decarbonization
Examines how offshore wind deployment can account for local priorities while supporting power-system decarbonization.
Communications Earth & Environment, 7, 533 (2026).
-
India’s Next Energy Efficiency Challenge: Cooling, Flexibility, and Electrification
Examines cooling, flexibility, and electrification as priorities for India’s next phase of energy efficiency.
Confederation of Indian Industry Green Business Council.
-
India’s Renewable Energy Breakthrough: Coal-Like Reliability at a Lower, Fixed Price
Compares firm renewable electricity with coal generation on reliability and fixed-price supply.
India Energy and Climate Center, University of California, Berkeley.
Research in policy settings
Policy work & evidence →Policy discussion
Procuring dependable clean power
How should clean-power procurement weigh price and dependable supply throughout the day?
Research for policy
Planning for energy storage
What role could storage play in meeting India’s electricity needs through 2032?
Research for policy
Cooling demand and efficiency standards
How can India meet growing cooling needs while managing electricity demand and consumer costs?
Data & Dashboards
All five tools and their stories →India · Generation & reliability
India’s electricity, plant by plant
Daily electricity generation, market prices, and generation costs across India’s power plants.
Name, organization & email required
India · Costs & investment
What does electricity cost?
Compare power-plant fixed and variable costs across fuels, states, and vintages.
Name, organization & email required
India · Markets & flexibility
IEX Market Lens
Explore hourly market prices, buy and sell bids, cleared volumes, and offer-side opportunities across the electricity market.
Name, organization & email required
Writing & conversations
Talks and recordings →Opinion · ThePrint
Tamil Nadu’s electricity model
A discussion of Tamil Nadu’s electricity challenges and possible reforms.
Lecture · Pune International Centre
India’s energy future
An overview of the opportunities and challenges shaping India’s energy future.
Podcast · The Reformist
Indonesia’s solar ambitions
A conversation about Indonesia’s solar ambitions and lessons from India’s energy transition.
From LinkedIn
All original commentary →
India’s renewable energy resilience during El Niño
India's Renewable Energy Resilience in the 2026 El Niño ☀️⚡ Solar and wind generation grew more than THREE TIMES as fast as electricity demand!
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India's Renewable Energy Resilience in the 2026 El Niño ☀️⚡
Solar and wind generation grew more than THREE TIMES as fast as electricity demand!
But that's not the most interesting part. Look at the shape of the generation curves—not just the growth in generation. The chart shows daily electricity generation from every solar and wind power plant in India 2024-2026.
In my previous post, I showed how the 2026 El Niño year has exposed a major vulnerability in India's electricity system. See here: https://lnkd.in/p/g58JuHqd
⚡ Peak electricity demand reached 270 GW—40 GW higher than last year.
💧 Hydropower generation fell by ~20%, with 13 GW less hydropower available during peak demand hours.
This caused severe pressure on the grid, resulting in electricity shortages.
But here's the other side of the story.
Comparing 2026 with 2025 (January 1–October 20):
⚡ Electricity demand: +7.7%
☀️ Solar generation: +34.0%
💨 Wind generation: +11.7%
🌱 Combined solar + wind generation: +26.1%
India's massive renewable energy capacity additions have helped meet rapidly growing electricity demand, even as hydropower availability deteriorated sharply.
But look closely at the regional charts.
1. Wind generation continues to follow its familiar seasonal pattern. Despite the hydropower shock, there is no corresponding collapse in aggregate wind generation.
2. Solar generation has grown dramatically, while broadly retaining its seasonal patterns. Of course, much of the generation growth reflects new capacity additions.
Note the charts do not establish that capacity factors were unchanged or that El Niño had no impact on solar and wind resources. Hydropower, solar and wind face their own weather-related risks, but these risks need not move together.
And that's why this is an important resilience story. India's expanding and geographically diverse renewable energy portfolio has helped cushion the electricity system against a major hydrological shock.
Solar and wind cannot directly replace all the flexibility hydropower provides, especially during evening peaks. Energy storage, smarter grid access, stronger transmission networks, and flexible demand are essential.
Renewable energy resource + geographical diversification is an important climate resilience strategy.
Explore our interactive daily power-plant-level generation dashboard: https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
#RenewableEnergy #IndiaEnergy #GridResilience #EnergyTransition #ElNino #BRES2027
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Bharat Renewable Expo | BRE2027 International Solar Alliance Ministry of Power Govt of India India Energy & Climate Center (IECC)
Solar and wind generation grew more than THREE TIMES as fast as electricity demand!
But that's not the most interesting part. Look at the shape of the generation curves—not just the growth in generation. The chart shows daily electricity generation from every solar and wind power plant in India 2024-2026.
In my previous post, I showed how the 2026 El Niño year has exposed a major vulnerability in India's electricity system. See here: https://lnkd.in/p/g58JuHqd
⚡ Peak electricity demand reached 270 GW—40 GW higher than last year.
💧 Hydropower generation fell by ~20%, with 13 GW less hydropower available during peak demand hours.
This caused severe pressure on the grid, resulting in electricity shortages.
But here's the other side of the story.
Comparing 2026 with 2025 (January 1–October 20):
⚡ Electricity demand: +7.7%
☀️ Solar generation: +34.0%
💨 Wind generation: +11.7%
🌱 Combined solar + wind generation: +26.1%
India's massive renewable energy capacity additions have helped meet rapidly growing electricity demand, even as hydropower availability deteriorated sharply.
But look closely at the regional charts.
1. Wind generation continues to follow its familiar seasonal pattern. Despite the hydropower shock, there is no corresponding collapse in aggregate wind generation.
2. Solar generation has grown dramatically, while broadly retaining its seasonal patterns. Of course, much of the generation growth reflects new capacity additions.
Note the charts do not establish that capacity factors were unchanged or that El Niño had no impact on solar and wind resources. Hydropower, solar and wind face their own weather-related risks, but these risks need not move together.
And that's why this is an important resilience story. India's expanding and geographically diverse renewable energy portfolio has helped cushion the electricity system against a major hydrological shock.
Solar and wind cannot directly replace all the flexibility hydropower provides, especially during evening peaks. Energy storage, smarter grid access, stronger transmission networks, and flexible demand are essential.
Renewable energy resource + geographical diversification is an important climate resilience strategy.
Explore our interactive daily power-plant-level generation dashboard: https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
#RenewableEnergy #IndiaEnergy #GridResilience #EnergyTransition #ElNino #BRES2027
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Bharat Renewable Expo | BRE2027 International Solar Alliance Ministry of Power Govt of India India Energy & Climate Center (IECC)
El Niño and India’s grid vulnerability
El Niño is exposing a critical vulnerability in the Indian power grid. 40 GW higher peak demand. 13 GW less hydropower during peak.
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El Niño is exposing a critical vulnerability in the Indian power grid.
40 GW higher peak demand. 13 GW less hydropower during peak.
The chart shows daily hydro electricity generation across every hydro plant in India, 2024–2026, alongside national peak demand. Red = 2026, Green = 2025, Blue = 2024.
During July–September 2026, India's peak electricity demand reached 270 GW, which is ~40 GW higher than a year earlier. At the same time, hydropower generation during peak demand hours fell by 13 GW. Total hydro energy generation has fallen by ~20%, relative to 2025.
The result? Severe pressure on the grid and widespread power shortages.
But the El Nino hydropower impact is very different regionally.
Southern India: Hydro generation fell sharply during the monsoon months.
Western India: Generation has been significantly weaker during several critical periods.
North-East and East: Surprisingly, hydropower generation has actually been higher than in previous years during much of 2026.
Northern India: Generation has been relatively resilient.
This is why national averages can be so misleading.
El Niño exposes a potentially dangerous double vulnerability: hotter weather drives electricity demand higher, while weaker rainfall and reservoir inflows constrain hydro - one of the grid's most valuable sources of flexible generation.
==> We need to fundamentally rethink how we assess weather-related risks in electricity planning.
Explore daily electricity generation and costs for power plants across India:
https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
Amol Phadke Mohit Bhargava Umed Paliwal Paritosh Jaiswal India Energy & Climate Center (IECC) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Soonee Sushil Kumar Narasimhan S.R. Ashwin Gambhir Ministry of Power Govt of India Neelima Jain Shruti Mahajan Deorah
#waterstress #india #grid #hydropower #elnino
40 GW higher peak demand. 13 GW less hydropower during peak.
The chart shows daily hydro electricity generation across every hydro plant in India, 2024–2026, alongside national peak demand. Red = 2026, Green = 2025, Blue = 2024.
During July–September 2026, India's peak electricity demand reached 270 GW, which is ~40 GW higher than a year earlier. At the same time, hydropower generation during peak demand hours fell by 13 GW. Total hydro energy generation has fallen by ~20%, relative to 2025.
The result? Severe pressure on the grid and widespread power shortages.
But the El Nino hydropower impact is very different regionally.
Southern India: Hydro generation fell sharply during the monsoon months.
Western India: Generation has been significantly weaker during several critical periods.
North-East and East: Surprisingly, hydropower generation has actually been higher than in previous years during much of 2026.
Northern India: Generation has been relatively resilient.
This is why national averages can be so misleading.
El Niño exposes a potentially dangerous double vulnerability: hotter weather drives electricity demand higher, while weaker rainfall and reservoir inflows constrain hydro - one of the grid's most valuable sources of flexible generation.
==> We need to fundamentally rethink how we assess weather-related risks in electricity planning.
Explore daily electricity generation and costs for power plants across India:
https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
Amol Phadke Mohit Bhargava Umed Paliwal Paritosh Jaiswal India Energy & Climate Center (IECC) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Soonee Sushil Kumar Narasimhan S.R. Ashwin Gambhir Ministry of Power Govt of India Neelima Jain Shruti Mahajan Deorah
#waterstress #india #grid #hydropower #elnino
India’s electricity, one power plant at a time
How does India actually generate its electricity? ⚡ Let us analyze one power plant at a time? Every generating unit. Every day. For the last 3 years.
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How does India actually generate its electricity? ⚡
Let us analyze one power plant at a time? Every generating unit. Every day. For the last 3 years.
🔗Check out the dashboard with downloadable data here: https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
(regularly updated)
We've collated an extensive database of daily electricity generation across India - coal, gas, solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, and bioenergy - covering 2024, 2025, and 2026 (through October 18), along with plant-level generation costs and electricity market prices.
And some fascinating patterns emerge:
🔹 Solar is booming. But coal generation is rising too. In 2026, solar generation increased 39% compared with the last year. Yet coal generation also increased ~8%. Existing thermal assets are crucial for maintaining the system reliability.
🔹 The geographical split between the solar / wind belt (west and south) and the coal belt (east and north) is clearly visible on the map.
🔹 Seasonality, really? Notice how flat the total national generation is across the year. But individual technologies and plants tell a very different story. Hydro and wind generation show enormous seasonal variations, with much of their output concentrated during the monsoon. The day-to-day variability in certain wind plants is very high - but together as a fleet is remarkably smooth within monsoon.
🔹 The El-Nino effect. During June–October, typically when hydropower generation peaks - it fell by 16% in 2026, with the entire shortfall made up by thermal generation.
🔹 Capacity scarcity in 2026 is visible in the split between market prices and generation costs. Demand increase in 2026 is clearly visible in increased thermal generation in September / October and consistent market price peaks during non-solar hours. In September, non-solar-hour electricity market prices surged 71% year-on-year, while the generation-weighted thermal variable-cost proxy increased just 4.4%.
This collated database and an interactive dashboard is now publicly available. You can examine individual plants, compare technologies and states, follow daily generation patterns, and explore electricity prices and costs.
🔗 Explore the dashboard: https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
A big shout out to Central Electricity Authority (Cea) GHANSHYAM PRASAD & Ministry of Power Govt of India for making the underlying data available in the public domain.
What patterns do you see? What else would you like to investigate using this data?
Amol Phadke Mohit Bhargava Paritosh Jaiswal Umed Paliwal Narasimhan S.R. Ashwin Gambhir Soonee Sushil Kumar
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) NITI Aayog Official
India Energy & Climate Center (IECC)
#India #Electricity #EnergyTransition #PowerMarkets
Let us analyze one power plant at a time? Every generating unit. Every day. For the last 3 years.
🔗Check out the dashboard with downloadable data here: https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
(regularly updated)
We've collated an extensive database of daily electricity generation across India - coal, gas, solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, and bioenergy - covering 2024, 2025, and 2026 (through October 18), along with plant-level generation costs and electricity market prices.
And some fascinating patterns emerge:
🔹 Solar is booming. But coal generation is rising too. In 2026, solar generation increased 39% compared with the last year. Yet coal generation also increased ~8%. Existing thermal assets are crucial for maintaining the system reliability.
🔹 The geographical split between the solar / wind belt (west and south) and the coal belt (east and north) is clearly visible on the map.
🔹 Seasonality, really? Notice how flat the total national generation is across the year. But individual technologies and plants tell a very different story. Hydro and wind generation show enormous seasonal variations, with much of their output concentrated during the monsoon. The day-to-day variability in certain wind plants is very high - but together as a fleet is remarkably smooth within monsoon.
🔹 The El-Nino effect. During June–October, typically when hydropower generation peaks - it fell by 16% in 2026, with the entire shortfall made up by thermal generation.
🔹 Capacity scarcity in 2026 is visible in the split between market prices and generation costs. Demand increase in 2026 is clearly visible in increased thermal generation in September / October and consistent market price peaks during non-solar hours. In September, non-solar-hour electricity market prices surged 71% year-on-year, while the generation-weighted thermal variable-cost proxy increased just 4.4%.
This collated database and an interactive dashboard is now publicly available. You can examine individual plants, compare technologies and states, follow daily generation patterns, and explore electricity prices and costs.
🔗 Explore the dashboard: https://lnkd.in/gj_Xt6SD
A big shout out to Central Electricity Authority (Cea) GHANSHYAM PRASAD & Ministry of Power Govt of India for making the underlying data available in the public domain.
What patterns do you see? What else would you like to investigate using this data?
Amol Phadke Mohit Bhargava Paritosh Jaiswal Umed Paliwal Narasimhan S.R. Ashwin Gambhir Soonee Sushil Kumar
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) NITI Aayog Official
India Energy & Climate Center (IECC)
#India #Electricity #EnergyTransition #PowerMarkets
Get in touch
nikit@berkeley.eduAcademic correspondence, policy discussions, and media inquiries.
Contact & institutional profiles →