New Delhi: Around 12,500 megawatt (MW) capacity of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects are currently under the tendering process, and an additional 3,300 MW is in the pipeline, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) Chairperson Ghanshyam Prasad said on Wednesday. He was speaking on the second day of the India Energy Storage Week, organised by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) in the capital.
"We have roughly around 3300 MW capacity in the pipeline, culminating to 8500 megawatt hour (MWh)...expected in the next two years. Another thing which is in the tender stage, roughly around 12,500 megawatt...roughly 42,000 MWh capacity is under the tender stage," Prasad said.
He noted that India’s current operational BESS capacity remains low and needs significant scaling.
He added, “The country's current BESS capacity looks very meagre. It stands at around 205 MW, which is around 506 megawatt hour only.”
The government has been pushing for accelerated deployment of storage technologies to complement the rising share of renewables in the energy mix.
On hydro-based storage, Prasad said the government is targeting about 3,000 MW of hydro pumped storage project (PSP) capacity this year and is working to expand it significantly in the years ahead.
“But what is more important is raising the figure from 5 gigawatt...to around 50 GW or more of hydro PSP in a next 5 or 6 years...and we are working on it," he said.
The statements underline India’s growing focus on grid-scale storage systems to support energy transition and round-the-clock clean power supply.