Markets & Policy

Renewable energy is abundant but intermittent. Demand is growing but uneven. Infrastructure exists but is often misaligned with where and when power is needed. In this environment, the grid has become more than a passive network; it is an active balancing system. Its resilience will determine whether the energy transition delivers stability or introduces volatility.

For years, the battery energy storage (BESS) story has followed a familiar script: costs fall, deployment accelerates, economics improve. Even when cell costs rose and system prices briefly flattened during the 2021-22 lithium price spike, the narrative largely held. Paola Perez Peña, senior principal analyst at S&P Global Energy, examines why the latest jump in lithium prices has only had limited impacts on overall BESS costs so far.

A new briefing note by Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) finds that India’s imports of key energy transition minerals and their compounds are highly concentrated, underscoring significant supply risks and the importance of diversification to enhance supply security.

India’s renewable energy push is inherently decentralized. Solar parks in Rajasthan, wind farms in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and hybrid projects across states are often located far from consumption centers. Bridging these geographical gaps requires robust, resilient, and future ready transmission network. Without it, even the most ambitious generation targets risk underutilization.

Clean energy subsidies for renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs) represent only 10% of India’s total energy subsidies. Though gradually expanding, these remain vulnerable to global oil price shocks due to structural fiscal dependence on oil and gas revenues. 

Pace Digitek Ltd has partnered with NEC XON Systems, South Africa, to market, distribute and deploy its grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) and related energy solutions across South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Mauritius.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has issued preliminary anti-dumping determinations for three key solar-exporting nations, establishing duties of up to 123% on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

The clean energy transition carries a real risk of replicating the extractive habits of the fossil fuel era, just with different inputs. Land grabs for solar. Rare earth mining for batteries. Water consumption for green hydrogen. None of these are arguments against the transition. They are arguments for doing it intelligently. Floating solar is one example of that intelligence made practical.

State that aligns policies—and target specific segments of the EV and battery value chain—based on their comparative advantage, can better attract investments, deepen local value addition and create integrated manufacturing ecosystems.