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Panel: Building the Storage Mix to Meet India’s Long-Term Deployment Pathway
Date & Time
October 24, 2026 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM
TypePanel
Battery storage remains significantly more expensive per unit than solar alone — largely because components are imported and India has no domestic lithium supply. Pumped hydro and thermal storage are already demonstrating materially lower cost points in operational projects. So what would it take for pumped hydro and thermal storage to be treated as genuinely bankable, procurable alternatives — and what is currently standing in the way?
India has 6.2 GW of operational pumped hydro, 8.5 GW under construction and 64 GW under investigation. Coal mine areas — naturally hilly terrain with existing water sources — represent an entirely untapped pumped storage opportunity. What would it take to move pumped hydro in coal mines from pilot to pipeline?
Thermal storage delivers long-duration output without dependence on imported critical minerals and can be manufactured domestically. What would it take for thermal storage to be treated as a credible, procurable alternative within India’s storage policy framework? And who needs to champion it?
India’s 2030 storage targets were designed around batteries and pumped hydro. Mechanical, thermal and chemical storage are not factored into government planning numbers. Should India’s targets be reframed around duration and application rather than technology, and who has the authority to make that change?
Batteries, pumped hydro and thermal storage each have distinct strengths across response speed, duration and cost. What does an optimally balanced Indian storage mix look like by 2030, and are the procurement frameworks in place to build it?
