Event Summary

As part of efforts to scale DF awareness and capacity building, MP Ensystems, in collaboration with IIT Bombay, organized the two-day Demand Flexibility Conclave on January 29–30, 2026, at the SJMSOM, IIT Bombay Campus in Mumbai. This capacity-building event convened diverse stakeholders, including distribution licensees from Mumbai, representatives from regulators in Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Delhi, civil society organizations, consultants, and startups in the power and clean energy sectors.

The day opened with an introductory session by Dr. Mahesh Patankar (MP Ensystems) on DF strategies for RE integration, followed by keynote addresses from energy sector leaders: Shri Milind Deore (Secretary, Bureau of Energy Efficiency) on DF-ready appliances and standards; Shri. Chintamani Chitnis (Tata Power) on innovations in DF/DR via Tata Power case studies; and Shri Alok Kumar (Director General, All India Discoms Association) on discom perspectives regarding metering infrastructure and aggregator ecosystems. Following the inaugural and keynote sessions, the agenda proceeded with the first session of the day focused on ‘Consumer perspectives in benign DF implementation’. Moderated by Dr. Patankar, the panel included professionals from regulatory commissions, international agencies, research organisations, and academia. The session received insights from various power sector stakeholders on regulatory ecosystem imperatives to DF implementation, the role of national-level programs to scale demand flexibility, and DF applications and opportunities in cooling, buildings, urban planning, and other avenues. The discussion also shed light on the collaborative approach of energy efficiency measures and demand flexibility initiatives to ensure energy use optimisation.

The second half of the day was initiated with the panel discussion on the ‘Role of Data Sciences’, with Prof. Suryanarayana Doolla setting the tone and moderating the discussion. The panel included representatives from think tanks, research organisations, stakeholder representative organisations, and academia sharing experiences from their work and engagements. The discussion highlighted data as central to comprehensive DF deployment, with insights on tools such as load research, the current granularity of available data, and potential data points to enhance accuracy. Behavioural sciences as a domain to research and develop DF deployment programmes was also a key sub-theme. The session concluded with a presentation on the role of machine learning and artificial intelligence in deploying DF across multiple frontiers of the sector. Session 3 was themed ‘DF implementation – Role of systems integrators and aggregators’ and was moderated by Mr. Mukesh Khandelwal of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). This session highlighted international experiences from different regulatory and consumer ecosystems focusing on DF implementation. Panellists included electricity retailers and researchers from the UK sharing experiences on flexing demand through consumer interactions, with a focus on market competition and product and service innovation. The discussion also offered insights on the role of technical assistance to stakeholders responsible for DF programs to achieve desirable outcomes, concluding with the role of aggregators as an extended arm of distribution licensees to bridge the consumer–discom gap. Session 4 focused on providing a platform to sector-relevant startups offering solutions to challenges faced by power sector stakeholders. An elevator-pitch format was adopted for startups to showcase capabilities and services to potential clients such as discoms, think tanks, and private sector organisations. Startups presented solutions on DF event application, asset aggregation, and M&E capabilities, with BMS and smart batteries as complementary to DF also showcased.

The conclusion of the fourth session marked the end of Day 1, followed by Day 2 focused on training and demonstration of the in-house demand flexibility tool from MP Ensystems and load research training by Prayas Energy Group. MP Ensystems began the proceedings with an overview of the Indian power sector, followed by a presentation on the current regulatory ecosystem in Indian states for DF and DSM. The presentation also focused on potential DF applications across consumer segments such as public water works, EV charging, and building cooling. The second presentation of the day focused on the need for load research and demonstrated how existing data availability can support robust load research to assess consumer profiles, design power procurement, and optimise demand flexibility events. This marked the conclusion of Module 1 of the DF training.

The module 2 of the training offered participants the in-house DF training tool created by MP Ensystems to simulate DF events for distribution licensees across various consumer cluster profiles. The second half of the day included a two-hour MCQ-based written evaluation serving as a refresher to the one-and-a-half-day discussion and training, concluding with a certification disbursement ceremony culminating the DF conclave.