By: Vishal Gupta
Batteries, Not Just Solar Panels, Will Drive India’s Energy Future
India’s clean energy journey has so far been measured in gigawatts—solar parks sprawling across deserts, wind turbines dotting coastal landscapes, and ambitious green hydrogen roadmaps. But there’s a missing link in this electrifying narrative: what happens when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind refuses to blow? The answer lies in what could soon become the backbone of India’s energy transition—energy storage.
Solar Power’s Growth and the Storage Gap
We are at an inflection point. While solar and wind projects have taken off impressively, the power they generate remains hostage to the weather. Without reliable storage systems to bank and dispatch this power on demand, we’re building a grid that looks green on paper but behaves unreliably in practice.
India is already grappling with curtailment of renewables during low-demand hours and simultaneous shortfalls during peak loads. This isn’t just an operational hiccup—it’s a structural weakness. In effect, the power system lacks elasticity. And no matter how much we install, a solar panel cannot meet demand at 9 p.m.
Why Solar Energy Needs Strong Storage Solutions
To fix this, energy storage must be moved from the periphery to the centre of energy planning. This is not just about battery banks—it’s about enabling a flexible, dispatchable, and future-proof grid. The government’s recent push for standalone storage tenders and renewable-energy-plus-storage projects is encouraging. But what’s needed now is scale, clarity, and urgency.
Imagine a power system where a solar farm in Rajasthan isn’t just feeding power during the day but storing excess energy in a battery to light up homes in Bihar by night. Picture industrial parks that use clean power around the clock—not because the grid suddenly became more generous, but because storage made it possible to synchronise supply with need.
For that to become real, three things must happen. First, policy frameworks must reward flexibility. Today’s procurement norms still prioritise lowest-cost generation, not reliability. Tariff structures and power markets must evolve to reflect the value of time-shifting and firming power.
Second, storage infrastructure—especially grid-scale batteries and pumped hydro—must be treated as critical assets, not optional add-ons. They need long-term contracts, risk guarantees, and visibility into revenue streams. Investors need confidence that storage isn’t a one-off experiment but a mainstream solution.
Third, India must ramp up domestic manufacturing of energy storage technologies. Swapping fossil fuel imports for battery imports solves one dependency by creating another. The PLI schemes for battery cell production are a good start, but we need to go further—securing raw materials, supporting end-to-end supply chains, and investing in next-generation chemistries beyond lithium-ion.
Crucially, energy storage is not just about technology. It’s about energy justice. A flexible grid powered by renewables and backed by storage can make power more reliable for remote villages, reduce diesel reliance in underserved areas, and stabilise costs for urban centres. It can also empower India’s industries to transition without fear of outages.
This isn’t a distant possibility. With the right moves today, India can lead the global energy transition—not just by generating the most solar power, but by becoming the world’s most resilient clean energy economy.
The decade of energy transition has begun. If we get it right, this will be remembered not just as the age of renewables—but as the age of storage-enabled freedom from fossil fuels.
