Mumbai: 2026 will be a watershed year for India’s energy storage industry, with meaningful capacities going onstream. Even as that happens, industry executives note the offtake pace remains moderate, and hope for improvement in the coming months.
According to the industry association estimates, by the end of 2026, India will have 5-7.7 Gigawatt-hour (GWh) of storage capacity operational, compared to the negligible half a GWh a year ago. While this happens for capacities which are either captive or have offtake agreements in place, reasonable awarded capacities still await a buyer.
“Advanced discussions with prospective off-takers are going on, and agreements for a significant portion of the capacity are expected to be finalised shortly,” said Ankur Kumar, chief executive officer (CEO), Essar Renewables. The company has a storage portfolio that includes a 300 Megawatt (MW) FDRE capacity.
In a report released in January, SBI Caps noted “~27 GWh of storage is awarded but has not seen tariff approval yet.”
For energy storage, India has been robust in tendering out storage projects, however the second crucial step to tie-up users for these capacities has been slow. Industry executives expect policy push in the coming months to help ease offtake. “Lots of govt policies under discussion so industry waiting for clarity, expects many discussion papers to get floated next month,” said an executive from a second power company, with presence in the energy storage segment.
Between June 2023 and October 2025, more than 20 projects were awarded under Firm and Dispatchable Renewables (FDRE) tenders. Of these, in the same period, only seven projects saw a power supply agreement signed, according to India Energy Storage Alliance data. Overall, as of October, the association noted there was a sizable capacity of 13 GWh energy storage in the market waiting for an off-taker.
Kumar from Essar noted, “The signing process ( for offtake agreements) is progressing at a measured pace, but market interest remains strong, with multiple counterparties actively evaluating opportunities,” adding, “ While slight delays in signing could affect individual project timelines, the overall renewable energy build-out remains strong and on track, supporting India’s long-term 500 GW renewable energy target with solid policy and market momentum."
For those, who have had better luck with offtake agreements, executives remain hopeful of a policy push for increased local manufacturing. “We have already signed offtake agreements for three out of the five projects we have won. The other two are at the LOA stage and we are confident will be tied up soon. Discussions and representations have been made to the government for policies to incentivise local manufacturing, we do expect some development there in the short term,” said Venugopal Rao is the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Pace Digitek Ltd, one of the companies operating in the energy storage business.
