Battery energy storage, agriphotovoltaics and carbon capture will be among the key themes at a two-day clean energy workshop being organised by the Sustainability and Energy Practitioners Association (SEPA) in Coimbatore, as India expands renewable energy capacity and works towards its Viksit Bharat 2047 goals.
The sixth edition of the Sustainable Bharat Advanced Clean Energy Workshop 2026 will open with a session on “Battery Energy Storage Systems: Powering India’s Clean Energy Transition”, bringing together industry leaders, utilities, researchers and energy practitioners to discuss the role of storage in strengthening the grid, improving energy resilience and supporting cleaner industrial growth.
The inaugural session will feature Dr Raguram Arjunan, President, SEPA; V. Rangaswamy, President, CODISSIA; Dr Ilja Pawel of Renewable Energy Academy, RENAC AG, Germany; Krishnan Komandur, Chief Executive Officer, Adar Poonawalla Clean City Initiative; and Dr Mohammad Rihan, Director General, National Institute of Solar Energy.
Rihan is expected to bring an academic and institutional perspective to the discussions, including the role autonomous institutions can play in advancing sustainability.
“Autonomous institutions can play a very practical role because they have the freedom to act faster and design solutions suited to their own context. Instead of waiting for sustainability to remain only in policies or guidelines, they can build it into everyday decision-making,” Rihan said.
The SEPA Students Council will also be launched during the inaugural session, with a focus on involving students more directly in sustainability challenges.
“Students should not only study these issues in classrooms; they should be involved in solving real problems, and autonomous institutions can become a testing ground for ideas, where solutions are tried, measured and improved,” Rihan said.
Successful models could then be documented and shared with other institutions, allowing autonomous institutions to serve as demonstration centres for sustainability solutions that can be implemented, measured and replicated, he added.
The first day will focus on the use of Battery Energy Storage Systems, or BESS, across commercial, industrial and utility-scale applications.
Technical sessions will examine how industries can integrate storage with renewable energy, energy management systems and digital technologies to reduce peak demand, manage energy costs and improve reliability. Discussions will also cover battery technologies, system design, safety and long-term performance.
At the utility level, the focus will shift to the use of large-scale storage to balance renewable power, improve grid flexibility and support electricity system reliability.
Expert panels will examine what is needed for wider commercial adoption of BESS. One will focus on industrial applications, including project economics, investment, safety, standards and policy, while another will look at utility-scale storage, including procurement, financing, market design and grid planning.
The second day will broaden the discussion to other areas of the clean energy transition, with sessions on environmental, social and governance practices, agrivoltaics and carbon capture, utilisation and storage.
The ESG session will examine sustainability in energy operations, green finance and carbon markets.
A panel on “Agriphotovoltaics: From Demonstration Projects to Commercial Adoption” will explore how solar power generation can be integrated with agriculture while retaining land for farming. Researchers, engineers, plantation practitioners and farmer representatives will discuss system design, field experience, farmer participation and the business case for scaling up agriphotovoltaics.
D.K. Singh, former Principal Scientist and Professor and former Principal Investigator at the Centre of Excellence for AgriPV at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), said the link between food, water and energy security was becoming increasingly important as agriculture becomes more energy-intensive.
India needs to expand energy production while meeting its commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, he said, pointing to the growing role of renewable energy, particularly solar.
Singh said agriphotovoltaics could help address both energy and agricultural needs by allowing the same land to be used for crop cultivation and electricity generation.
“What can be better than a system where electricity is produced at the same place where it is used,” Singh said, adding that such systems could support power supply for households, agriculture, agro-based industries and allied sectors. Agriphotovoltaic systems could also create an additional source of income for farmers through the dual use of agricultural land, he said.
The final thematic sessions will focus on Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage, or CCUS, and its potential role in reducing emissions from hard-to-abate industries including steel, cement, refineries and chemical.
Other speakers include: Yuki Furuya of Yokogawa India, Sampath Kumar of FESTON S.E.V., Nikhil of Shunya Eco-Systems & Energy Solutions, Prabagaran Parameshwaran of FESTA Private Limited, Adithya Ramalingam of Yokogawa India Limited, Anil Pillai of KSEB, Balaji Srinivasan of Bosch Global Software Technologies, Mohanraj of JSS Renewables Energy India, Sujoy Ghosh of First Solar, George Prothasis of KSEBL, Gokul of Waree Energies, Shaji S of BLITZ Electric, Murugesh Halan of SEPA, Prakhar Gupta of Ascentium India, Pradeep Raj of AIC RAISE, Gaurav Juneja of BDO, R Mahendiran of TNAU, Sivakumar of IBS Tea Plantations, P Kaliathal Pattiappan of Pasumai Thennai Urpathiyalarkal Niruvanam (FPO).
