The India Energy Hour Presented by 101Reporters

Over the past decade, India has emerged as one of the world's leading renewable energy markets. Clear policy direction, competitive markets, and strong public and private investment have helped drive this transformation. But as the energy transition enters its next phase, new challenges are emerging—from grid modernization and energy storage to affordable finance and regional cooperation. In t...

Energy transition of India, like any other country in the world is currently marred with wars, energy map reset and new challenges of AI and climate financing. Every nation is back on the drawing board to plan their energy future and climate action in a warming, conflicting world.  As The India Energy Hour enters the century club, informed conversations tracking the transition, especially of the G...

India is facing more frequent and intense heatwaves. The challenge is not just rising temperatures. Cities, infrastructure, and public systems must also adapt. In the second part of the Heat Series, we hosted Dr. Indu K. Murthy, Sector Head - Climate, Environment & Sustainability at CSTEP. She explains how extreme heat is reshaping urban life, straining energy systems, and exposing inequalitie...

Extreme heat is no longer just a seasonal inconvenience. It is now the most pervasive and under-recognized risk which can distort India’s growth plans. As temperatures rise, the impacts are being felt across health systems, labour markets, agriculture, and energy demand, yet the issue remains fragmented in how it is understood and addressed.   We present a special two-part series exploring how hea...

As India’s electricity transition gathers pace, the real story lies in the complexity unfolding across states. What appears straightforward from a distance, adding more renewables and reducing fossil dependence, quickly becomes layered when viewed through states' lens. In the second part of our State Series, we take a data driven view of this transition. We spoke with Saloni Sachdeva Michael ,...

As India’s energy transition accelerates, much of the real momentum is happening at the state level, where policy meets implementation. From electricity markets and regulatory design to industrial decarbonization and green growth, states sit at the center of how policy translates into action. But what does it take to drive large scale change within these systems? We present a special series explor...

What does it take to build companies from the ground in a novel sector in India? In this conversation, Parag Sharma, Chief Executive Officer at Resolven (formerly Zelestra), reflects on a three-decade journey from growing up in a thermal power plant campus to building gigawatt-scale renewable businesses. Drawing from his experience across engineering, consulting, and entrepreneurship, he explains...

At a time when wars dominate headlines, climate disasters intensify, and newsrooms themselves face funding cuts and political pressure , who tells the story, and how, matters more than ever. In a conversation that is both personal and structural, we spoke with Ms. Mitali Mukherjee, Director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, UK. Having led a distinguished career as a business journali...

The repurposing of coal power plants is an underexplored challenge as many countries, including India, strive to achieve net-zero targets. Some countries in the Global South, such as South Africa, have more experience with coal power plant repurposing than India. To understand what Indian coal-fired power plant owners can learn from the South African experience, we interviewed Dr. Vikesh Rajpaul,...

India’s energy economy has started 2026 on both a chaotic and a promising note. Last year’s storms of trade wars and the disarray of the country’s energy supply chain have spilled into this year as well. But 2025 was also the year India crossed the threshold of 50 per cent non-fossil fuel power generation capacity and took promising steps in nuclear energy. This year has commenced with policy shif...

As The India Energy Hour completes five years, the hosts come together for a special recap episode reflecting on how the podcast began and how it has evolved alongside India’s energy transition. From the early motivation behind starting the show to the moments that shaped its direction, this episode revisits key milestones from the last five years. The hosts discuss some of the most impactful epis...

As climate risks intensify across India, state governments are emerging as critical drivers of climate action, adaptation, and energy transition. In this episode of The India Energy Hour, we explore how states can plan, finance, and implement climate action on the ground. While several state-specific models are in the works, New Delhi–based IPE Global recently unveiled a one-stop Climate Readiness...

Having committed to the ambitious target net zero by 2070 and 50 per cent energy from green sources, India would need transition planning across sectors. The most important planning would be in the electricity sector which would need to decarbonise faster than any other sector. This transition would depend on India's ability to produce round-the-clock clean energy, or 24/7 carbon free energy (...

Achieving a low-carbon economy will require trillions of dollars in new investments across renewable energy, infrastructure, industry, and climate adaptation. As India races toward its clean energy and net-zero goals, one question looms large — where will the money come from? What roles will domestic and international finance play, and how can innovative instruments such as green bonds and blended...

As India deepens its energy transition and the United States recalibrate its global partnerships, the US–India energy relationship stands at a pivotal moment. From energy  technology collaboration, clean energy supply chains to geopolitical strategy, the partnership is evolving into a key pillar of bilateral engagement shaping both nations’ economic and climate futures. In this episode, we speak w...

Coal India Limited or CIL — the world’s largest coal mining company and one of India’s most influential state-owned enterprises — is now 50 years old. Established to secure the India’s energy needs, Coal India has long been the backbone of India’s industrial and power sectors. But as the country moves toward its net-zero by 2070 goal, the company is now undergoing one of the most significant trans...

Since the dawn of the Electricity Act, 2003, India's power transmission sector has undergone a transformation during the last two decades. The gates of the sector were open for the private sector, which brought with it investment and innovation. While the private sector continued to face the challenge of competing with an almost monopolistic government organisation, it has been able to grab a...

Solving the climate crisis—whether by scaling renewable energy or phasing down fossil fuels—requires rigorous, science-based policy that delivers win-win solutions for stakeholders.  In this episode, Dr. Jai Asundi, Executive Director of the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), shares how to navigate India’s complex energy and climate policy landscape to ensure research does...

If there is one common issue that all electricity reforms face in India it is the state of power distribution segment. State owned power distribution companies (discoms) while being marred with financial and operational inefficiencies also plague the rest of the electricity supply chain. Multiple bailout packages and reform schemes have moved the needle of improvement only so much. So what will it...

As India moves to reduce its coal dependence and reach its climate goals, the spotlight is turning to hard-to-abate sectors that are both energy-intensive and vital to economic growth. What would a realistic transition look like for these industries? And how can finance, policy, and innovation come together to drive change? In this episode, we speak with Girish Sethi, Senior Director of the Energy...

The evolution of India’s electricity grid reflects the ever-changing dynamics of the country’s economic and infrastructure growth. Built as a backbone to coal-based power, the grid is now upgrading itself to handle green electricity, give space to energy storage and be flexible to fluctuating demand-supply scenarios.  The India Energy Hour brings a special series on the progress of the grid in Ind...

The evolution of India’s electricity grid reflects the ever-changing dynamics of the country’s economic and infrastructure growth. Built as a backbone to coal-based power, the grid is now upgrading itself to handle green electricity, give space to energy storage and be flexible to fluctuating demand-supply scenarios.  The India Energy Hour brings a special series on the progress of the grid in Ind...

The oil and gas sector in India has been a story of evolution from once private entities turning into nationalised companies and then again the entry of private sector in 1990s. Initially, the upstream oil exploration sector witnessed a lot of private investment but then it slowed down. The downstream oil sector simultaneously saw a variety of social schemes, billions of government funds, and priv...

As the impacts of climate change intensify and clean energy deployment becomes crucial, energy and climate diplomacy have emerged as powerful tools to drive international cooperation and unlock finance, technology, and ambition. From global summits like COP, G7, and G20, to bilateral and multilateral partnerships, countries are negotiating entire frameworks for energy access, green industrial grow...

Like other peers, India has increasingly started focusing on securing critical minerals for its energy and industrial sectors. From lithium and cobalt to rare earth elements, these minerals are essential for clean technologies like batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines. As the world races to secure these resources, India is looking to position itself strategically. But, how big is India’s min...