Teppo Hemiä, CEO of Wirepas, writes that India’s smart grid journey must be built on scalable connectivity, interoperability, and long-term infrastructure thinking to create a resilient and future-ready electricity system.
By Teppo Hemiä, CEO, Wirepas
India is entering a decisive phase in the development of its electricity system. Demand is rising quickly. Urban centers are expanding. Renewable energy is becoming a larger part of supply. These forces are placing new demands on the grid at a scale that requires both speed and discipline in execution.Other regions have already travelled part of this path. Over the past decade, smart grid programs in Europe, North America and parts of Asia have moved from pilot projects to national rollouts. The experience gained from these efforts offers lessons that are relevant for India as it expands smart metering and modernizes its grid.
Connectivity must be treated as core infrastructure
In many early deployments, communication systems were added after the main metering or control decisions had already been made. This often led to limitations later, when scale increased and operational demands became more complex. More recent programs have taken a different approach. Connectivity is designed as part of the grid itself. It is planned alongside metering, distribution and control systems rather than treated as a separate layer.
In these markets, wireless mesh based approaches relying on standards such as NR+ have been explored alongside other technologies due to their fit for large scale connectivity where reliability and coverage are critical. For India this distinction matters. The system will need to support hundreds of millions of endpoints across highly varied terrain. This requires communication networks that are reliable and resilient by design and not dependent on ideal conditions in the field.
Interoperability reduces long-term risk
A recurring issue in global deployments has been fragmentation. When utilities adopt closed systems, they often face constraints later. Upgrades become more difficult. Integration with new technologies becomes slower. Costs rise over time. Where programs have been most effective, interoperability has been prioritized from the outset. Systems are designed to work across vendors and generations of equipment. This allows utilities to adapt without replacing core infrastructure. India’s scale makes this even more important. A fragmented approach would create long term inefficiencies that are difficult to reverse once deployed.
Scale must be built into the architecture
Smart grid systems rarely fail at pilot stage. The challenges tend to appear during expansion. Several international programs that worked well in limited geographies encountered difficulties when extended nationally. The issue was not the technology itself but the underlying architecture, which was not designed for rapid scaling. This is where distributed mesh connectivity approaches from providers like Wirepas have supported high device density without overloading existing infrastructure. India’s rollout is already at a scale that exceeds most historical examples. This makes early architectural decisions critical. Systems must be able to expand without requiring structural redesign.
Reliability across conditions is essential
Electricity networks operate in environments that vary widely. Urban density, rural distance, climate and terrain all affect performance. Successful deployments have shown that systems must remain stable even when conditions are not uniform. This includes periods of disruption, infrastructure constraints or power loss in parts of the network. In India this challenge is amplified by geographic diversity. A system that works in one region must be able to operate in another without significant modification.
Smart grids are long term infrastructure
There is a tendency in some markets to view smart grid programs as incremental upgrades. The experience of more advanced deployments suggests otherwise. These systems become part of the core energy infrastructure for decades. Decisions made early determine flexibility, cost and performance far into the future. Countries that have taken a long term view have generally avoided expensive retrofits and have been better placed to integrate renewables, distributed generation and new pricing models.
India is building one of the largest modernization programs in the global energy sector. The scale brings complexity but also an opportunity to make foundational decisions that will shape the system for decades. Experience from other markets points to a few consistent lessons. Systems must be designed for scale from the beginning. They must remain interoperable over time. Connectivity must be treated as essential infrastructure rather than an add on. If these principles are applied early, India will be better positioned to build a grid that is both resilient and adaptable as energy systems continue to evolve.
About the Author: Teppo Hemiä, CEO of Wirepas, is a global technology leader driving innovation in wireless connectivity and scalable IoT solutions.
Copyright@India CSR®
Also Read: India’s Climate Risk Becomes Economic Risk as Power Demand Hits Record 256 GW
