The third day of India Energy Week (IEW) 2026 saw policymakers, industry leaders and global institutions underline the need to align policy, data, technology and investment to meet India’s rapidly expanding energy demand, as discussions focused on pathways for a secure, resilient and inclusive energy system.
At the Global Energy Conclave, the release of ‘IEA India Bioenergy Market Report: Outlook for Liquid and Gaseous Biofuels to 2030’ and the 5th edition of ‘PPAC Journal Ensuring Energy Security: Role of State Energy Policies’ highlighted bioenergy as a critical pillar of India’s energy transition.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary Neeraj Mittal said India’s bioenergy sector could grow faster than overall energy demand, supporting energy security, emissions reduction and rural development. “India’s energy consumption is in the lower half globally on a per capita basis, but its growth rate is almost twice the world average. In the next decade, India’s energy growth could outstrip global growth by a factor of two or more,” he said.
Mittal noted that ethanol blending has risen from 1.4 percent in 2014 to nearly 20 percent today, with similar targets for biodiesel, compressed biogas and sustainable aviation fuel.
Presenting key findings from the IEA report, Paolo Frankl, Head of Renewable Energy Division at the International Energy Agency, said India has tripled its consumption of modern bioenergy since 2020 and could double deployment again by 2030 with enhanced policy implementation.
In a session on data-driven energy planning, former Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain warned against reactive infrastructure development. “Energy cannot play catch-up. Energy has to anticipate,” he said, calling for integration of data across petroleum, power, coal and gas systems to guide macroeconomic forecasting and infrastructure prioritisation.
Technology-led transformation was another key theme. ONGC Videsh Managing Director Rajarshi Gupta said India is undergoing a fundamental shift in how exploration data is created, shared and used, with artificial intelligence and collaboration becoming central to decision-making.
MNRE Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi said renewable energy expansion must now focus on grid integration and domestic manufacturing, noting that non-fossil fuel capacity has reached about 267 GW.
Coal Secretary Vikram Dev Dutt said affordable and dependable baseload power would remain essential as India works towards tripling per capita energy consumption, even as renewable energy scales up.
In a session on green hydrogen, National Green Hydrogen Mission Director Abhay Bakre said India’s hydrogen ecosystem is moving from ambition to execution, supported by competitive renewable energy costs, policy certainty and global partnerships.
The discussions reinforced that India’s energy transition will follow a balanced pathway combining clean energy expansion, data-driven planning and reliable baseload capacity, as the country positions itself at the centre of future global energy demand growth.
