{"id":74394,"date":"2026-05-20T20:38:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=74394"},"modified":"2026-05-20T20:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:09:48","slug":"renewable-energy-storage-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-05-2026\/renewable-energy-storage-india","title":{"rendered":"India is Rapidly Scaling up Renewable Energy but Now it Needs to Store it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Renewable Energy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As India <strong>rapidly scales up its renewable energy capacity<\/strong> to meet its <strong>climate goals, <\/strong>a key challenge is emerging for its<strong> power system i.e. energy Storage.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Renewable power generation sources come with a fundamental limitation of being<strong> intermittent.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Solar power<\/strong> generation <strong>drops to zero after sunset<\/strong> and <strong>wind output fluctuates <\/strong>with changing weather.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This creates a <strong>growing mismatch<\/strong> between when electricity is generated and when it is needed.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This mismatch <strong>can stretch the grid <\/strong>and even threaten its stability if not managed properly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Renewable Energy in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Renewable sources account fo<strong>r 53% (283 gigawatts)<\/strong> of the total installed power generation capacity of <strong>532 GW.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Solar power<\/strong> alone contributes<strong> over 150 GW,<\/strong> making it the largest source in the renewable energy mix.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is where deploying systems that <strong>\u201cstore\u201d energy becomes critical<\/strong> and where India has fallen short so far.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Energy Storage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Energy storage <\/strong>refers to systems that can <strong>store excess renewable electricity<\/strong> <strong>during periods of high generation <\/strong>and discharge it when demand rises but power generation remains low.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Energy storage systems<strong> convert electricity<\/strong> from renewable sources such as solar and wind, when it is available,<strong> into forms that can be stored.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Later, it converts these <strong>back into electricity when need arises.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Types of Energy Storage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Pumped hydro storage (PHS)<\/strong> uses <strong>surplus electricity to pump water<\/strong> from a lower reservoir to a higher one. When electricity demand peaks, it releases the stored water downhill through turbines to generate power.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) technology<\/strong> stores <strong>electricity chemically <\/strong>and discharges it when needed.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lithium-ion batteries, <\/strong>particularly lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, are currently the dominant technology for grid-scale storage because of their falling costs, high efficiency and long operational life.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Concentrating solar-thermal storage systems:<\/strong> This technology uses mirrors that capture and focus sunlight onto a receiver.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As the receiver gets heated, materials such as molten salt are circulated inside the receiver to store the heat.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Compressed-air energy storage systems<\/strong> use excess electricity to compress air and store it in underground caverns or tanks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Flywheel energy storage systems <\/strong>store electricity as rotational energy by spinning a rotor at extremely high speeds.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gravity energy storage systems<\/strong> use electricity to lift heavy weights to higher elevations. When electricity is needed, the weights are lowered, converting gravitational energy back into electricity through generators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s Energy Storage Capacity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The government is primarily focusing on the <strong>two major systems above: PHS and BESS.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>At present, India has an<strong> installed BESS capacity of around 0.27 GW.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PHS capacity <\/strong>stands at about<strong> 7.2 GW. <\/strong>There are plans, however, for a massive scale-up over the next decade.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A Central Electricity Authority (CEA) plan projects the <strong>country\u2019s total energy storage capacity to reach 174 GW\/888 gigawatt hours by 2035-36.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This includes<strong> 80 GW\/321 GWh of BESS and 94 GW\/567 GWh of PHS.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Global Scenario<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>China leads with nearly 66 GW<\/strong> of installed capacity, followed by Japan at 21.8 GW and the US at 18.9 GW. <strong>Europe <\/strong>collectively accounts for around <strong>28 GW<\/strong> of pumped hydro capacity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to the International Energy Agency, 108 GW of new battery storage capacity was added globally in 2025 alone, a <strong>40% increase over 2024.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India\u2019s transition to renewable energy will depend not only on expanding solar and wind capacity, but also on <strong>building robust energy storage infrastructure<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With ambitious plans for scaling up PHS and BESS, India is positioning itself to meet its climate commitments and strengthen energy security.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, achieving these targets will require <strong>sustained policy support, technological innovation, domestic manufacturing capacity<\/strong> and large-scale investments in the coming decade.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: IE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> As India rapidly scales up its renewable energy capacity to meet its climate goals, a key challenge is emerging for its power system i.e. energy Storage. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Renewable power generation sources come with a fundamental limitation of being intermittent.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Solar power generation drops to zero after sunset and wind output fluctuates with changing weather. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> This creates a growing mismatch between when electricity is generated and when it is needed.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-05-2026\/renewable-energy-storage-india \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74397,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74394\/revisions\/74397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}