As India Energy Week 2026 gets underway at the ONGC Advanced Training Institute in South Goa, the conversation around clean energy is moving decisively from ambition to execution. With India positioning itself as a global hub for renewable energy and green hydrogen, the focus today is not just on targets, but on delivery, on building projects that are technically sound, financially viable, and scalable on the ground.
Sachin Chugh, India Energy and Hydrogen Leader at Arup, a UK-based firm recognised for shaping complex infrastructure and sustainability-led development, plays a pivotal part in advancing the company’s contributions to climate-conscious and resilient energy systems, with a strong emphasis on hydrogen across the value chain.
Before joining Arup, Sachin spent years at Indian Oil, where he led strategic, policy-driven and R&D initiatives spanning alternative fuels, emissions reduction, and carbon management. His work has ranged from hydrogen-blended CNG and fuel cell buses in Delhi, to setting up advanced fuel cell and electrolyser research facilities and green hydrogen demonstrations.
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A holder of multiple patents, an accomplished researcher, and a mentor to startups and doctoral scholars, Sachin brings both policy depth and hands-on project experience to the table.
In conversation with Connected to India’s Senior Correspondent Sudipto Maity, Sachin explains what it will take to turn India’s clean-energy vision into bankable, real-world outcomes, moving decisively from ambition to execution.
What are the biggest gaps between India’s clean energy and hydrogen targets and what’s needed to make them commercially viable projects on the ground?
Some of the challenges include demand certainty, bankable offtake structures, technology and cost risks, grid and infrastructure readiness, and regulatory clarity across the project lifecycle. Leveraging its global experience through more than 650 commissions in the field of hydrogen and derivatives, Arup is keen to work closely with Indian stakeholders to mitigate these risks through integrated technical, commercial, and systems-level advisory, insulating Indian projects from early-stage uncertainties. As the market consolidates and approaches standardisation, well-structured projects are expected to emerge with stronger commercial viability and scalable outcomes.
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Which global renewable or hydrogen models have truly scaled, and what would not work if we tried to copy-paste them into India’s regulatory and financial ecosystem?
The hydrogen sector has seen both successes and challenges globally in its recent evolution. Experience suggests that long-term policy certainty, credible offtake mechanisms, grid and infrastructure readiness, and balanced risk-sharing frameworks are critical, and while these have been pursued in select geographies, greater harmonisation is still needed. Immediately transplanting such models into India may be counterproductive given differences in market depth, contracting norms, grid conditions, and cost of capital. Instead, outcomes depend on adapting global learnings to India’s regulatory, financial, and institutional context; an approach that Arup brings through its global-to-local delivery experience.
How do investors currently price risk in India’s hydrogen and renewables sector, and what would most effectively unlock long-term capital?
Investors interested in India’s hydrogen and renewables sector currently price risk around policy durability, offtake certainty, technology performance, and counterparty strength, often leading to higher return expectations or shorter tenors. We have seen recent developments in terms of binding offtake agreements between Indian and European organisations, but I do agree that consistent unlocking of long-term capital will depend on clearer contracting frameworks, credible demand aggregation, risk-mitigation through robust project structuring and standards, and improved visibility on lifecycle performance. Arup is in the process of supporting global investors and developers with well informed, India-specific advisory services.
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What role can Indian engineering and manufacturing play in building resilient, scalable clean-energy infrastructure instead of relying on imported solutions?
Indian engineering and manufacturing can play a central role by delivering cost-efficient, standardised, and locally optimised solutions aligned to India’s operating conditions and scale. However, this requires fine calibration where indigenisation helps insulate projects from global supply-chain and technology-provision turbulence, without inadvertently slowing deployment through capacity, quality, or learning-curve constraints. Balancing localisation with selective global integration will be key to building resilient, scalable clean-energy infrastructure.
How critical is global harmonisation of hydrogen standards, including emerging uses like cooking, and what must India do to stay aligned while moving fast?
Harmonisation is the key to success. It will ensure safety, interoperability, investor confidence, and international trade. For India, the challenge is to move fast while staying aligned by anchoring domestic standards to globally accepted frameworks, adopting a risk-based and performance-oriented approach, and continuously updating codes as deployment scales—allowing innovation without compromising safety or market credibility. On hydrogen for cooking, the real value of hydrogen can be unlocked when it is produced and consumed in a decentralised manner. While this may not be relevant for all countries, in India hydrogen’s role in cooking could be transformative, as it addresses multiple objectives simultaneously. The time is right for India to conceptualise Ujjwala 2.0, with hydrogen at its core.
Why is India Energy Week important? What does it provide as a platform to companies such as yours?
The event is important as it convenes the latest perspectives towards India’s energy priorities, policies, and market signals converging with global capital, technology, and expertise. For companies such as Arup, it provides a forum to share global experience, understand India’s evolving priorities, and engage in outcome-focused dialogue on translating policy and targets into technically competent, and scalable projects.
What are your expectations from IEW 2026?
Our expectation from India Energy Week 2026 is to engage in deeper, solution-oriented dialogue with policymakers, industry leaders, investors, and technology providers to help convert India’s clean energy ambitions into implementable and bankable projects. As an organisation participating in the UK Pavilion, Arup aims to actively advance UK–India collaboration by sharing global best practices and contributing, through focused and practical interventions, for the development of sustainable and resilient energy systems in India.
Who are your competitors globally? Who are you targeting at IEW 2026 and in general?
It is less a question of competition and more one of collaboration. This reflects a broader reality of the energy transition, where diverse energy sources increasingly work together within an integrated system rather than competing in isolation. In the same spirit, Arup views industry peers not merely as competitors, but as partners; collectively contributing to the successful delivery of the energy transition.
