As India’s renewable energy projects face challenges from dust storms, heat, and cyclones, Gentari is integrating resilience into its asset management. Rashmi Shringi, Head – Asset Management at Gentari India, details how hybrid and round-the-clock designs with storage, lifecycle-cost procurement, and predictive operation and maintenance (O&M) are stabilizing output and returns, while pooled spares and diversified vendors cut downtime.

How critical is O&M in ensuring renewable assets deliver the expected performance and financial returns?

O&M is central to ensuring that renewable assets consistently deliver on their technical and financial commitments. For investors and customers, the focus is not merely on installed capacity but on the long-term reliability of energy output. We view O&M as a strategic enabler of performance and yield stability.

For reference, a gearbox failure can halt generation for weeks. To mitigate such risks, we employ a hybrid O&M model: OEMs are retained for core turbine reliability, while our centralized monitoring systems, powered by IoT and SCADA, enable early detection of anomalies. This structure ensures both accountability and operational responsiveness.

What are the most persistent engineering and operational challenges you face in managing utility-scale solar and wind projects across India’s diverse terrains?

India’s renewable energy footprint spans a wide range of geographies, each presenting unique operational challenges. In Rajasthan, dust storms necessitate frequent cleaning cycles. Tamil Nadu’s coastal regions face cyclone risks. Central India requires effective derating strategies to mitigate extreme heat. Across all regions, aging infrastructure and legacy technology remain persistent concerns, with spare parts and service support for older assets becoming increasingly scarce and expensive.

Gentari addresses these challenges through targeted retrofit programs and by qualifying multiple vendors to avoid single-supplier dependencies. This vendor diversification strategy is a key procurement lever. Not only does it reduce risk, but it also drives competitive pricing and innovation, ensuring continuity of supply across regions.

Rising AMC costs and volatile spare pricing continue to impact O&M budgets. To mitigate this, we’ve adopted a centralized procurement model that enables better demand forecasting, volume aggregation, and standardization across our asset base. This approach allows us to negotiate more favorable terms, streamline logistics, and maintain consistency in quality and performance.

We’ve also established pooled spare hubs to improve responsiveness and reduce downtime. These hubs are strategically located to support multiple sites, ensuring critical components are readily available when needed.

From a procurement standpoint, our decision-making is increasingly guided by lifecycle cost analysis rather than upfront pricing. This ensures long-term reliability and cost efficiency, especially for retrofit and O&M planning. Where feasible, we prioritize local sourcing to reduce lead times in support of domestic manufacturing.

How is Gentari leveraging AI, IoT, and predictive analytics to monitor, maintain, and optimize the performance of its renewable energy assets in India?

Our O&M is built on a digital-first foundation. Proprietary IoT and SCADA platform captures high-resolution data across distributed assets, feeding into a central analytics engine that transforms raw data into actionable insights. The system goes beyond alerting- it quantifies yield loss, prioritizes work orders, and enables site teams to focus on interventions with the highest impact.

For complex technologies such as wind, hybrid systems, and storage, we integrate global platforms like Bazefield SCADA. Our Central Monitoring and Analytics team validates data quality, ranks interventions by yield impact, and transitions operations from reactive to predictive.

This approach was instrumental in our first ISTS-connected project, where early detection of underperformance allowed us to optimise yield before deviations appeared in generation data. Digital O&M enhances reliability, transparency, and value for customers.

Which KPIs or performance metrics does Gentari prioritize when evaluating O&M effectiveness across its renewable portfolio?

KPIs are more than internal metrics; they are the foundation of performance transparency with customers and investors. Our primary metric is availability, with a target of 99.5% uptime. We differentiate between grid and equipment downtime to identify and address specific areas for improvement.

We benchmark Operational Performance Ratio (OPR) at ~98%, monitor Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) with weather adjustments, and use MTTR and MTBF to guide reliability initiatives.

At a granular level, we continuously track soiling and auxiliary losses, as even minor inefficiencies can impact yield. Forecasting accuracy and deviation settlement mechanism compliances are also critical in the Indian context, helping us avoid penalties and maintain grid discipline. Spare management is treated as a strategic KPI tracking fill rates, inventory levels, and recurrence patterns to ensure availability without inflating carrying costs. Each metric is designed to support one overarching goal: delivering predictable, high-quality energy to our customers.

What future-ready asset management strategies is Gentari implementing to make its projects more resilient to market volatility, grid constraints, and climate-related risks?

Resilience is built through commercial design, grid adaptability, and climate preparedness, supported by digital systems.

Commercially, we are advancing hybrid and round-the-clock (RTC) asset structures with embedded storage capabilities. These configurations enable more predictable generation profiles and revenue streams, while flexible and bankable PPAs provide insulation against market fluctuations.

From a grid perspective, every operational site is equipped with Power Plant Controllers (PPCs), allowing real-time responsiveness to state load despatch centre directives and curtailment signals. We are also deploying battery energy storage systems to support frequency regulation, ramp control, and reactive power management, ensuring grid compliance and operational continuity.

All these strategies are integrated through a unified digital backbone comprising cyber-secure SCADA systems, digital twins, and harmonized data models. This enables predictive maintenance, real-time performance optimization, and informed decision-making—transforming resilience from a reactive necessity into a proactive design principle.

As battery storage and hybrid renewable projects gain traction, how will O&M strategies need to evolve to manage these assets effectively?

Battery and hybrid assets introduce new complexities, requiring an evolved O&M approach.

First, managing hybrid assets such as solar-plus-wind or solar-plus-storage requires integrated operational frameworks. These systems must function cohesively, with synchronized control across generation and storage components. Our O&M protocols are being restructured to reflect this integration, supported by unified SCADA platforms, harmonized data streams, and cross-functional teams trained to manage multi-technology environments.

Second, battery storage systems demand a more sophisticated maintenance regime. Unlike traditional generation assets, batteries require continuous monitoring of thermal conditions, state-of-charge, and degradation patterns. We are leveraging predictive analytics and digital twins to enable condition-based maintenance, reduce unplanned downtime, and extend asset life. This shift from time-based to data-driven interventions is critical for maintaining performance and safety in storage operations.

Finally, as regulatory frameworks evolve to accommodate hybrid and storage assets, compliance and performance optimization are becoming increasingly complex. Our teams are equipped to manage these requirements through real-time monitoring, automated reporting, and adaptive control systems. Performance metrics are also being recalibrated to reflect the unique characteristics of hybrid systems, tracking not only generation but also dispatchability, storage efficiency, and grid support capabilities.