India’s renewable energy expansion is often framed as a success story defined by headline numbers—gigawatts installed, targets announced and auctions completed. Yet, beneath these achievements lies an uncomfortable truth: capacity alone does not guarantee energy security. As renewable penetration deepens, the credibility of India’s energy transition will increasingly depend on two factors—storage and stable baseload power.
The dominance of solar and wind in recent capacity additions has introduced a new kind of vulnerability into the power system. Peak generation does not align with peak demand, and seasonal variations create supply gaps that fossil fuel plants are forced to fill. This reliance on coal as a balancing source undermines both climate objectives and system efficiency.
Energy storage offers a clear solution, but progress remains slow. While policy frameworks acknowledge its importance, implementation has been cautious. Storage projects struggle with bankability, long-term contracts and pricing clarity. Until these issues are resolved, storage will remain a bottleneck rather than a bridge in the transition.
This is where nuclear power re-enters the policy conversation. Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear provides continuous, low-carbon electricity. Unlike renewables, it does not depend on weather patterns. In a grid increasingly dominated by intermittent sources, nuclear offers stability that cannot be replicated by storage alone—at least not in the near term.
Critics often frame nuclear energy as expensive or risky, but such assessments ignore system-level costs. The true comparison is not between nuclear and solar tariffs, but between a stable, integrated grid and one that depends on fossil backup to compensate for intermittency. When viewed through this lens, nuclear power becomes less a legacy technology and more a strategic asset.
The real risk to India’s clean energy transition is not insufficient ambition, but insufficient coordination. Storage, nuclear, transmission and market reforms must move in tandem. Pursuing capacity growth without parallel investments in system resilience risks creating a grid that is greener, but weaker.
As India moves towards higher renewable penetration, success will no longer be measured by how fast capacity is added, but by how well the system performs under stress. Storage and nuclear power will not merely support the transition—they will define whether it succeeds.