Beyond AI infrastructure, India’s tech boom rests on the efficient use of power and water

India’s technology conversation is increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, data centres and digital infrastructure, however a more fundamental challenge lies in ensuring that the country has sufficient reliable power and water to sustain its growing cities and industries.

At TechSparks 2026 in a panel discussion titled The Invisible Infrastructure: Rebuilding India’s Energy, Water and Clean Air Systems, Shreya Mishra, Co-founder and CEO of SolarSquare, and Vikas Brahmawar, Founder and Director of Boson Whitewater discussed on how on the significance of scaling these solutions which require more than technological innovation. 

Rooftop solar moves beyond a niche market

The residential solar market in India has undergone a significant transformation over the past five years, said Shreya Mishra, Co-founder and CEO of SolarSquare. 

Recalling the market, she said that when SolarSquare entered the market, adoption was limited, consumers had little understanding of rooftop solar, and the upfront investment made many households hesitant. The company, however, believed that the economics of distributed power generation and the need for energy security would eventually drive adoption.

“Distributed solar, which is solar on every rooftop, will be the cheapest source of power,” Mishra said.

According to Mishra, it took five years for one lakh homes in India to adopt residential solar when the company began its journey. Today, the country adds that many homes in a single week, so far SolarSquare has powered more than 60,000 homes. 

However, the economics alone do not eliminate consumer concerns. Rooftop solar requires a substantial upfront payment, and households may worry about equipment reliability, maintenance costs and whether the system will generate the promised amount of electricity.

For companies in the sector, building trust is therefore as important as making the financial case. Mishra also sees distributed solar as a way to reduce the cost associated with transmitting electricity over long distances. While power may be generated relatively cheaply, transmission and distribution costs can increase the price consumers ultimately pay.

Her argument is that generating electricity closer to where it is consumed can help address that gap. 

SolarSquare currently serves both individual households and around 500 housing societies. 

Wastewater as an alternative to freshwater

On the other hand, water presents a different challenge. Vikas Brahmawar, who moved from the software industry to work on water reuse, said it took years of effort to build the policy environment needed to support the sector.

“Water, unlike solar, there is a fixed sun which is hitting,” he said, explaining that wastewater treatment must account for changing water quality. The business also needs supportive policies and viable economics to scale.

The need is becoming more pressing as cities and industries compete for increasingly constrained freshwater resources. Groundwater extraction remains a major source of supply, while industrial applications such as data centres, cooling towers, semiconductor manufacturing, electroplating and laundry require significant quantities of water.

Brahmawar said the company had repurposed around 147 crore litres of water over the preceding four years that would otherwise have gone down the drain.

The opportunity is particularly relevant as data centres expand and demand for water-intensive infrastructure rises. Reusing treated wastewater for industrial purposes could help ease pressure on freshwater sources while creating a commercially viable market for recycled water.

But the economics of water supply can be counterintuitive. Brahmawar pointed to Bengaluru’s Cauvery water supply, saying consumers are charged around Rs 7 per kilolitre even though the government spends about Rs 95 per kilolitre to bring the water from a distant river to the city.

The gap, he suggested, illustrates the challenge facing alternative water sources: a solution must compete not only with the availability of freshwater but also with the way existing water systems are priced and subsidised.

Technology is not the biggest hurdle

If rooftop solar has benefited from increasingly visible consumer savings, recycled water faces an additional barrier: public perception.

Brahmawar recounted how the company spent two-and-a-half years speaking to more than 300 apartment complexes about the possibility of using recycled water, including for drinking. The response showed that convincing people to accept treated wastewater can be difficult even when treatment technology is available.

For now, the company is concentrating on industrial applications, where recycled water can replace freshwater without requiring consumers to overcome the same psychological barrier associated with drinking it.

“Technology is the least of the problem,” he said. The bigger obstacles, in his view, are commercial viability, public perception, enforcement and execution on the ground.

Building a broader energy ecosystem

SolarSquare, meanwhile, is looking beyond the installation of rooftop panels. Mishra said the company wants to become a full-stack home energy brand, expanding into batteries, electric-vehicle chargers, home energy monitoring, energy optimisation and smart-grid integration.

The company is also using software to monitor installations and identify problems remotely. Mishra said monitoring data could help detect voltage fluctuations and recurring power outages, allowing the company to identify potential issues and recommend solutions such as battery storage where appropriate.

Such capabilities can improve customer service while reducing the need for physical inspections, she said.

The experiences of SolarSquare and Boson Whitewater highlight two different stages in the development of climate infrastructure. Rooftop solar is benefiting from growing consumer awareness and a clearer financial proposition, while wastewater reuse is still working to overcome pricing, policy and perception barriers.

However, the common challenge for both the companies lies in how to turn a technically viable solution into infrastructure that people and organisations can adopt at scale.