The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) inaugurated a two-day international conference-cum-exhibition titled 'Making Indian Power Sector AI Enabled' at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi on October 14, 2026. The event was attended by senior government officials including Shri Shripad Yesso Naik (Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy), Shri Jitin Prasada (Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry and Electronics & Information Technology), Shri Pankaj Agarwal (Secretary, Ministry of Power), and Shri Mayank Tewari (Additional Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy).
During the inaugural session, CEA Chairperson Shri Ghanshyam Prasad announced that the authority has already formed a team of 54 artificial intelligence enthusiasts/brand ambassadors who will drive AI adoption across all areas of the power sector. He recommended that all power utilities should also establish dedicated AI teams. The session featured the launch of CEA's Vidhyut Dwar Portal and the release of the CEA Manual on Transmission Planning Criteria, 2026. CEA Employee Awards were also distributed to recognize outstanding performance and exceptional contributions by CEA employees.
The technical program on Day 1 featured six parallel thematic discussions covering comprehensive AI applications across the power value chain. The session on conventional generation examined AI applications for heat-rate and combustion optimization, flexible plant operation, predictive maintenance, digital twins, auxiliary-power optimization, and emissions monitoring to improve plant availability and operational efficiency.
The regulatory reforms session considered using AI and advanced analytics for reviewing aggregate revenue requirement and tariff filings, validating submissions, organizing regulatory knowledge, monitoring compliance, and supporting market surveillance, while emphasizing that AI would serve as a human-supervised decision-support tool rather than replacing statutory judgment.
The renewable energy integration session explored AI-based forecasting of variable renewable generation and demand, improved visibility of distributed energy resources, storage optimization, congestion management, and coordination of renewable assets through virtual power plants to enable a flexible and reliable grid.
The distribution modernization discussion focused on applications using smart-meter, network and asset data including demand forecasting, power-procurement optimization, predictive maintenance of distribution transformers, outage detection and fault localization, energy auditing, loss analytics, billing and revenue assurance, consumer services and regulatory reporting.
The transmission modernization session examined AI-enabled network planning, corridor and right-of-way optimization, drone-based inspection and computer vision, predictive maintenance, digital twins, dynamic line rating, congestion and contingency analysis, inertia forecasting, and decision support for system restoration and black-start preparedness.
The rooftop solar and microgrids session focused on intelligent planning and operation of decentralized energy resources including rooftop solar identification and sizing, feeder-level forecasting, autonomous microgrid operation, storage optimization, agriculture-feeder analytics, demand response and aggregation of rooftop solar, batteries, electric vehicles and flexible loads.
Across all discussions, participants emphasized the need to move from isolated technology demonstrations towards prioritized, implementable use cases supported by reliable data, interoperability, appropriate safeguards, institutional capability and measurable performance indicators. The deliberations aim to inform practical pathways for responsible adoption and scaling of AI applications in the Indian power sector to support efficient and flexible power supply, reliable and intelligent networks, responsive institutions, secure digitalization and resilient domestic industrial capability.