In Panchipuri, Maharashtra, India, an experiment about the future of energy is quietly underway. BHEL, an Indian heavy electrical company, has teamed up with Swiss energy storage company Leclanch é to build a 100MWh vanadium flow battery energy storage project here. This is not only a large-scale flow battery project in India's planning, but also a microcosm of India's energy transformation strategy - in addition to traditional pumped storage, flow batteries with better safety and cycle life are being listed as an important route for long-term energy storage along with lithium batteries.

48.5GWh supports 500GW of non fossil energy

The latest report "2030 Power System Vision" released by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) of India has set a diversified development direction for the country's energy storage technology roadmap. The report clearly states that India aims to achieve a cumulative installed capacity of 48.5GWh of energy storage by 2030, in order to support the target of 500GW of non fossil energy installed capacity.

According to the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), as of early 2026, India has put into operation new energy storage projects with a total capacity of approximately 2GWh. This means that in the coming years, India will need to fill a huge installed capacity gap of over 46 GWh. It is widely believed in the industry that the Indian energy storage market is transitioning from a policy guided stage to a large-scale development stage.

Leading the way in pumped storage energy

To fill this gap, India is adopting a strategy of "walking on two legs".

On the one hand, there will be a significant increase in pumped storage capacity. The report clearly states that India aims to increase the installed capacity of pumped storage by 100GW by 2030, which is significantly higher than the previous plan. The core purpose is to provide long-term, high-capacity energy storage support for rapidly growing wind and solar projects, and solve the problem of integrating new energy into the grid for consumption. Pumped storage, with mature technology and suitable for large capacity configurations, will become the "ballast stone" for India's long-term energy storage.

On the other hand, new types of energy storage are also accelerating their implementation. In addition to Panchipuri's flow battery project, grid based energy storage (BESS) is also a key focus of this report. With the continuous increase in the penetration rate of new energy in India, the problem of insufficient grid inertia caused by the retirement of traditional synchronous units has become increasingly apparent. Grid type energy storage that can actively provide voltage and frequency support is considered a key technology to ensure the stable operation of the power grid. Many international energy storage manufacturers have already laid out their presence in the Indian market in advance, collaborating with local enterprises to promote demonstration projects.

Policy clears obstacles

The rapid growth of energy storage in India is driven by both policy and market factors. In order to clear the institutional barriers to industrial scale, India is accelerating the improvement of energy storage business models and pricing mechanisms.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) of India recently revised the rules related to energy storage participation in the electricity market, allowing energy storage projects to participate in auxiliary service markets such as frequency regulation, peak shaving, and backup, while clarifying the technical standards for grid connection of energy storage power stations. The Indian Ministry of Electricity has also stated that special policies and market mechanisms will be introduced in the future to promote the research and deployment of grid based energy storage.

In the future, pumped storage with mature technology and suitable for large capacity configuration will become the cornerstone of India's long-term energy storage; New technologies such as flow batteries and grid based energy storage will rapidly emerge in segmented scenarios, jointly building India's diverse and highly resilient energy storage support system.Editor/Yang Meiling