Beyond 50 Percent: Why India's Storage Challenge Matters More Than Its Solar Success
We reached 50 percent clean energy five years ahead of schedule. That's genuinely impressive. But the next phase—making that capacity reliable, building the storage backbone, achieving manufacturing depth, and creating the regulatory architecture for scale—will determine whether we're leading an energy revolution or just installing equipment.
December 17, 2025. By News Bureau
India achieved something remarkable this year. With 256.09 GW of clean energy out of 500.89 GW total installed capacity, we've crossed 50 percent non-fossil energy share—five years ahead of our NDC target. Adding 29.52 GW of renewable capacity in FY25 alone, India now stands as the world's fourth-largest renewable energy producer and third in solar power globally.
This isn't luck. It's the result of sustained policy commitment, aggressive targets, and the proven ability to execute at scale. The INR 24,000 crore PLI scheme created 100 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity, attracted INR 50,000 crore in investments, and generated over 12,600 direct jobs. When India commits to transformation, it delivers.
But crossing 50 percent reveals something uncomfortable: building renewable capacity is the easier part. Making that capacity reliable, dispatchable, and genuinely useful is where the real work begins.
The Problem Nobody Wants to Address
Solar panels generate power at noon when demand is moderate, then go dark precisely when evening demand peaks. Wind arrives unpredictably. During surplus hours, some states already curtail renewable generation because grids can't absorb the power. During peak demand, we still depend heavily on coal-fired backup.
This is the intermittency problem. At 10 percent renewable penetration, it's manageable. At 50 percent, it's critical. At our target of 500 GW by 2030—and 1,800 GW by 2047 on the path to net-zero 2070—it becomes the defining challenge of India's energy transition.
The Ministry of Power recognises this reality. Their mandate requiring all future solar projects to incorporate 2-hour energy storage systems equivalent to 10 percent of capacity isn't bureaucratic overreach. It's acknowledging that renewable capacity without storage is like building highways without vehicles—impressive infrastructure that doesn't move people.
The Storage Equation
Battery Energy Storage Systems represent our primary solution. The numbers tell the story: global BESS market grew from $56.29 billion in 2024 to $68.70 billion in 2025, projected to reach $186.90 billion by 2030. For India specifically, BESS capacity could hit 208 GWh worth $32 billion by 2030, potentially growing to 1,840 GWh valued at $443.4 billion by 2047.
There's a INR 3.5 trillion investment opportunity in the BESS ecosystem through 2032. But this isn't just about money. It's about building infrastructure that determines whether our renewable targets translate into actual fossil fuel displacement or remain accounting exercises while coal plants provide evening power.
Current BESS technology offers 4-8 hours of discharge—enough to handle daily solar cycles but inadequate for extended cloudy periods or monsoon weeks. We need a portfolio approach: lithium-ion batteries for short-duration storage, pumped hydro for longer periods, and strategic retention of flexible backup capacity while green hydrogen infrastructure matures. No single technology solves everything.
The Manufacturing Question
Here's where India faces a strategic choice. We built impressive solar manufacturing capacity, but we remain dependent on imported components for upstream supply chain. For batteries, we can't afford the same partial approach.
Battery manufacturing is more complex than solar panels. It requires mastering electrochemistry—from lithium extraction to cell fabrication to thermal management systems. China dominates global production. South Korea and Japan hold critical patents. The United States is deploying hundreds of billions through the Inflation Reduction Act.
India has advantages: recently discovered lithium deposits in Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan, though extraction to production takes 5-7 years. More importantly, we have guaranteed domestic demand. That INR 3.5 trillion market provides the foundation for attracting investment and building manufacturing scale.
The opportunity lies in emerging technologies. Instead of catching up in mature lithium-ion chemistry, India should invest aggressively in sodium-ion, solid-state, and next-generation storage where competition is more open. Deploy lithium-ion today for immediate needs while building R&D and manufacturing capability in technologies that will dominate 2035-2045.
The Regulatory Maze
India's federal structure creates 28 different regulatory environments. Some states allow indefinite RPO banking; others restrict it to months. Grid connectivity standards vary. PPAs get negotiated project-by-project. This fragmentation worked when renewables were marginal. At scale, it kills momentum.
Consider a developer deploying solar-plus-storage across multiple states. They navigate different grid codes, land acquisition processes, clearance procedures, and banking mechanisms. The transaction costs alone can make projects unviable.
We need a National Energy Storage Framework—baseline standards on grid connectivity, safety protocols, and PPAs while preserving state implementation flexibility. Define storage as a distinct asset class. Standardise technical specifications. Create template agreements. States like Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka that lead in renewable deployment should become models whose best practices get codified nationally.
The recent GST reduction from 12 percent to 5 percent on renewable devices helps, but it's insufficient alone. We need regulatory clarity on how storage earns revenue—from energy arbitrage, capacity payments, and ancillary services like frequency regulation. Storage operators currently face banking charges, transmission fees, and wheeling costs while providing grid stability services that go uncompensated. Fix the business model, and deployment follows.
The Implementation Reality
India's 500 GW target by 2030 is achievable—we've proven capacity addition at scale. But achieving it meaningfully requires parallel progress on multiple fronts.
Infrastructure must lead, not lag. Transmission corridors need to be built before generation capacity requires them. Shared infrastructure models should become standard, reducing per-developer costs and land conflicts. The nearly 20 lakh households under PM Surya Ghar and the upcoming second phase of PM-KUSUM post-March 2026 add complexity—distributed generation must integrate with grid-scale storage systems.
Land acquisition and right-of-way disputes slow everything. We need pre-identified renewable energy zones with advance clearances, faster dispute resolution, and benefit-sharing models that turn affected communities into stakeholders rather than obstacles. Single-window clearances must mean actual single approvals, not sequential processing through one office.
State-level execution varies dramatically. Some states have streamlined processes; others face bureaucratic resistance. Federal mechanisms need to accelerate RPO compliance, PPA execution, and land allotments without undermining state autonomy. This is hard, but it's essential.
What Success Actually Looks Like
Success isn't just reaching numerical targets. It's building a power system where renewable capacity actually displaces fossil fuels rather than requiring them as backup. Where storage makes solar and wind as reliable as conventional generation. Where India develops manufacturing capability that serves not just domestic needs but exports to the developing world.
The path is clear enough: deploy proven storage technology for immediate needs, invest in next-generation systems for long-term advantage, harmonise regulations without eliminating flexibility, create business models where storage earns adequate returns, and build infrastructure at pace with capacity addition.
The harder question is execution. India has demonstrated capacity to build renewable infrastructure at unprecedented speed and scale. We've shown policy can drive transformation when commitment is sustained. The challenge now is bringing that same execution discipline to the more complex tasks—storage deployment, manufacturing ecosystem development, regulatory coordination, and market design.
We reached 50 percent clean energy five years ahead of schedule. That's genuinely impressive. But the next phase—making that capacity reliable, building the storage backbone, achieving manufacturing depth, and creating the regulatory architecture for scale—will determine whether we're leading an energy revolution or just installing equipment.
The technology exists. The policy frameworks are understood. The investment capital is available. What's needed is the recognition that this phase requires different capabilities than the last. Building capacity tests our ability to scale. Building storage infrastructure tests our ability to integrate, coordinate, and execute across multiple dimensions simultaneously.
India has crossed 50 percent. The real milestone is making that 50 percent matter.
- Radhakrishna Deshraju, Former Chairman, Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission (TERC) and Think Tank, DIPA
This isn't luck. It's the result of sustained policy commitment, aggressive targets, and the proven ability to execute at scale. The INR 24,000 crore PLI scheme created 100 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity, attracted INR 50,000 crore in investments, and generated over 12,600 direct jobs. When India commits to transformation, it delivers.
But crossing 50 percent reveals something uncomfortable: building renewable capacity is the easier part. Making that capacity reliable, dispatchable, and genuinely useful is where the real work begins.
The Problem Nobody Wants to Address
Solar panels generate power at noon when demand is moderate, then go dark precisely when evening demand peaks. Wind arrives unpredictably. During surplus hours, some states already curtail renewable generation because grids can't absorb the power. During peak demand, we still depend heavily on coal-fired backup.
This is the intermittency problem. At 10 percent renewable penetration, it's manageable. At 50 percent, it's critical. At our target of 500 GW by 2030—and 1,800 GW by 2047 on the path to net-zero 2070—it becomes the defining challenge of India's energy transition.
The Ministry of Power recognises this reality. Their mandate requiring all future solar projects to incorporate 2-hour energy storage systems equivalent to 10 percent of capacity isn't bureaucratic overreach. It's acknowledging that renewable capacity without storage is like building highways without vehicles—impressive infrastructure that doesn't move people.
The Storage Equation
Battery Energy Storage Systems represent our primary solution. The numbers tell the story: global BESS market grew from $56.29 billion in 2024 to $68.70 billion in 2025, projected to reach $186.90 billion by 2030. For India specifically, BESS capacity could hit 208 GWh worth $32 billion by 2030, potentially growing to 1,840 GWh valued at $443.4 billion by 2047.
There's a INR 3.5 trillion investment opportunity in the BESS ecosystem through 2032. But this isn't just about money. It's about building infrastructure that determines whether our renewable targets translate into actual fossil fuel displacement or remain accounting exercises while coal plants provide evening power.
Current BESS technology offers 4-8 hours of discharge—enough to handle daily solar cycles but inadequate for extended cloudy periods or monsoon weeks. We need a portfolio approach: lithium-ion batteries for short-duration storage, pumped hydro for longer periods, and strategic retention of flexible backup capacity while green hydrogen infrastructure matures. No single technology solves everything.
The Manufacturing Question
Here's where India faces a strategic choice. We built impressive solar manufacturing capacity, but we remain dependent on imported components for upstream supply chain. For batteries, we can't afford the same partial approach.
Battery manufacturing is more complex than solar panels. It requires mastering electrochemistry—from lithium extraction to cell fabrication to thermal management systems. China dominates global production. South Korea and Japan hold critical patents. The United States is deploying hundreds of billions through the Inflation Reduction Act.
India has advantages: recently discovered lithium deposits in Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan, though extraction to production takes 5-7 years. More importantly, we have guaranteed domestic demand. That INR 3.5 trillion market provides the foundation for attracting investment and building manufacturing scale.
The opportunity lies in emerging technologies. Instead of catching up in mature lithium-ion chemistry, India should invest aggressively in sodium-ion, solid-state, and next-generation storage where competition is more open. Deploy lithium-ion today for immediate needs while building R&D and manufacturing capability in technologies that will dominate 2035-2045.
The Regulatory Maze
India's federal structure creates 28 different regulatory environments. Some states allow indefinite RPO banking; others restrict it to months. Grid connectivity standards vary. PPAs get negotiated project-by-project. This fragmentation worked when renewables were marginal. At scale, it kills momentum.
Consider a developer deploying solar-plus-storage across multiple states. They navigate different grid codes, land acquisition processes, clearance procedures, and banking mechanisms. The transaction costs alone can make projects unviable.
We need a National Energy Storage Framework—baseline standards on grid connectivity, safety protocols, and PPAs while preserving state implementation flexibility. Define storage as a distinct asset class. Standardise technical specifications. Create template agreements. States like Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka that lead in renewable deployment should become models whose best practices get codified nationally.
The recent GST reduction from 12 percent to 5 percent on renewable devices helps, but it's insufficient alone. We need regulatory clarity on how storage earns revenue—from energy arbitrage, capacity payments, and ancillary services like frequency regulation. Storage operators currently face banking charges, transmission fees, and wheeling costs while providing grid stability services that go uncompensated. Fix the business model, and deployment follows.
The Implementation Reality
India's 500 GW target by 2030 is achievable—we've proven capacity addition at scale. But achieving it meaningfully requires parallel progress on multiple fronts.
Infrastructure must lead, not lag. Transmission corridors need to be built before generation capacity requires them. Shared infrastructure models should become standard, reducing per-developer costs and land conflicts. The nearly 20 lakh households under PM Surya Ghar and the upcoming second phase of PM-KUSUM post-March 2026 add complexity—distributed generation must integrate with grid-scale storage systems.
Land acquisition and right-of-way disputes slow everything. We need pre-identified renewable energy zones with advance clearances, faster dispute resolution, and benefit-sharing models that turn affected communities into stakeholders rather than obstacles. Single-window clearances must mean actual single approvals, not sequential processing through one office.
State-level execution varies dramatically. Some states have streamlined processes; others face bureaucratic resistance. Federal mechanisms need to accelerate RPO compliance, PPA execution, and land allotments without undermining state autonomy. This is hard, but it's essential.
What Success Actually Looks Like
Success isn't just reaching numerical targets. It's building a power system where renewable capacity actually displaces fossil fuels rather than requiring them as backup. Where storage makes solar and wind as reliable as conventional generation. Where India develops manufacturing capability that serves not just domestic needs but exports to the developing world.
The path is clear enough: deploy proven storage technology for immediate needs, invest in next-generation systems for long-term advantage, harmonise regulations without eliminating flexibility, create business models where storage earns adequate returns, and build infrastructure at pace with capacity addition.
The harder question is execution. India has demonstrated capacity to build renewable infrastructure at unprecedented speed and scale. We've shown policy can drive transformation when commitment is sustained. The challenge now is bringing that same execution discipline to the more complex tasks—storage deployment, manufacturing ecosystem development, regulatory coordination, and market design.
We reached 50 percent clean energy five years ahead of schedule. That's genuinely impressive. But the next phase—making that capacity reliable, building the storage backbone, achieving manufacturing depth, and creating the regulatory architecture for scale—will determine whether we're leading an energy revolution or just installing equipment.
The technology exists. The policy frameworks are understood. The investment capital is available. What's needed is the recognition that this phase requires different capabilities than the last. Building capacity tests our ability to scale. Building storage infrastructure tests our ability to integrate, coordinate, and execute across multiple dimensions simultaneously.
India has crossed 50 percent. The real milestone is making that 50 percent matter.
- Radhakrishna Deshraju, Former Chairman, Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission (TERC) and Think Tank, DIPA
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