India Hosts 11th BRICS Energy Ministers' Meeting at Gurugram, Launches Smart-Grid Digital Centre

Deliverables from Gurugram:

• BRICS Digital Centre of Excellence for Smart Grids and Energy Storage — launched as a voluntary collaborative platform for knowledge sharing, capacity building, exchange of policy and regulatory best practices, and pilot initiatives across member states.
• 11th BRICS Energy Ministers' Joint Communiqué — adopted, reaffirming that energy security remains a cornerstone of BRICS cooperation and stressing diversified, resilient and transparent energy systems and supply chains, and recognising that access to secure, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy is fundamental to economic development.
• BRICS Guiding Principles on Smart Grids and Energy Storage — adopted, recognising the importance of modern power systems for integrating renewables and emerging technologies.
• BRICS Joint Report on Hydrogen Value Chains 2026 — ministers welcomed progress on finalising it, covering hydrogen technologies, standards and applications.
• Updated Terms of Reference for the ERCP — endorsed to strengthen research collaboration, technical cooperation and knowledge exchange.

India's energy record cited by Minister Manohar Lal:

• India is the world's third-largest producer and consumer of electricity.
• Installed power generation capacity has reached nearly 540 GW, with more than 50% from non-fossil-fuel sources.
• India is described as among the world's leading countries in solar and wind energy, with solar capacity rising sharply over the past decade.

India's underlying climate commitments (Panchamrit, COP26 Glasgow 2021): 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030; 50% of cumulative power capacity from non-fossil sources; cut projected emissions by 1 billion tonnes; reduce carbon intensity by 45%; and net-zero by 2070. India crossed the 50% non-fossil installed-capacity milestone around June 2025, five years ahead of its Paris NDC target.