Mudit Narain on why India throws away free solar power

Subtext by Zerodha · Sep 5, 2026 · 1h 37m

We cover:

- Why solar power gets curtailed despite its abundance, the evolution of the duck curve, the true cost of cross-subsidizing residential power, and how behind-the-meter storage is re-architecting the grid.

- It also covers India's rapid solar build-out, time-of-day tariffs, open access regulations, the India Energy Stack, and how virtual power plants could turn everyday households into energy suppliers.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

8:24 Why renewables are intermittent

15:28 History of centralized power plants

21:04 Why solar gets curtailed, not coal

28:50 Sanctioned load and penalty…