Roundtable Discussion Enabling Transparent and Robust State-Level Resource Adequacy Planning 2 (1).png

Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of prudent power sector planning. By comprehensively assessing electricity demand, supply options, costs, and system constraints over the medium to long term - while accounting for weather impacts and other externalities - IRP enables states to chart pathways for a least-cost, reliable, and sustainable electricity supply. Within this broader IRP framework, Resource Adequacy (RA) assessment plays a critical role in ensuring that optimal generation and transmission resources are available to reliably meet electricity demand under a range of plausible scenarios. In this sense, a robust RA plan is a crucial step towards an effective and credible IRP process. 

In India, RA planning has gathered momentum following directions from the Ministry of Power and the release of the Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) Resource Adequacy framework in 2023. These efforts along with state-level regulations and national and intra-state RA plans acknowledge the growing complexity of the power system, driven by rapid renewable energy deployment, evolving demand patterns, and increasing reliance on inter-state coordination. However, while these developments have created a valuable foundation, there remains scope to strengthen both the RA plans and the planning process itself.

Crucial inputs such as demand projections, historical load and generation profiles, planning assumptions, and methodological choices are often not available in the public domain, limiting meaningful stakeholder engagement and transparency. This is particularly important given that power purchase costs account for over 60–70% of the average cost of supply, so the RA plans and the capacity addition decisions have significant implications for consumer tariffs. 

Against this backdrop, WRI India is hosting this roundtable to bring together officials, regulators, system planners, researchers, and practitioners working on RA and IRP across states to discuss practical pathways for enabling more transparent and robust state-level RA planning. The workshop aims to foster a shared understanding of current gaps, practical constraints, and feasible improvements in data disclosure, regulatory processes, and governance, including the integration of intra-state transmission planning. Through as an interactive roundtable, the discussion will emphasize peer learning and collective problem-solving to strengthen the credibility and effectiveness of state-level resource planning.