Over the past decade, the conversation around clean energy in India has largely been about the number of new solar and wind farms. The country wants to make a splash with its transition from coal-fired plants, and rightly so. But that transition is no longer just about how electricity is produced but also about how it's consumed. The starting point for net-zero-obsessed companies is ensuring that the power they consume is green. And that's a bit tricky when they have to buy from the local, often state-run, utility. There's no traceability, and the power is expensive since these customers subsidise your and my electricity consumption. Instead, what if the companies could buy directly from clean-power producers? That’s the direction in which India is pushing them. And corporate consumers are lapping it up. India accounts for under half of the 18.6 gigawatts (GW) contracted by such consumers across Asia-Pacific. Last month, tech giants Amazon and Microsoft signed deals to procure 3 GW and 1.5 GW, respectively, from Indian clean-energy companies. Such pacts allow companies to buy clean power at rates 10-50% lower than those offered by distribution companies (discoms), depending on respective state policies. As great as this is for sustainability-focused power consumers, it is bad news for the discoms, whose finances are a mess despite them operating as monopolies. Shruti's story today is about this seismic shift playing out within India's clean-energy journey that will be as painful for some as it is beneficial for the rest
