India’s emerging long-duration energy storage (LDES) sector sees contracts awarded for pumped hydro and first large-scale flow battery.
Greenko secured the entire 720 MW capacity it had sought in the bidding process. Torrent Energy Storage Solutions requested 300 MW and received the complete allocation, whereas Tata Power had proposed 660 MW but ultimately obtained approval for 324 MW.
The Solar Energy Corporation of India determined the annual fixed charges associated with Tata Power’s e-Reverse Auction submission to stand at INR 10,841,826.5 per MW per year, which equates to US$112,662.41 per MW per annum, alongside a comprehensive storage cost of INR 13,510,000 per MW per annum.
Regarding Greenko’s submission, the comparable annual fixed charge came to INR 10,967,479.7 per MW per annum, with the full storage cost amounting to INR 13,490,000 per MW per annum.
In the case of Torrent Energy Storage Solutions’ offer, SECI arrived at an equivalent annual fixed charge of INR 10,975,609.8 per MW per annum and established the total storage cost at INR 13,500,000 per MW per annum.
Contract recipients receive their agreements under a build, own, and operate model.
The national Press Information Bureau of India released an update on pumped hydro energy storage development, referred to as pumped storage projects, throughout the nation on the previous day.
At present, 11 such pumped storage projects equaling 15,870 MW in combined capacity are in the construction phase, and another six initiatives totaling 8,140 MW have secured approval from the Central Electricity Authority while preparations for building have yet to begin.
The Press Information Bureau highlighted steps implemented by officials to promote greater use of pumped hydro technology. These encompass simplifying environmental and regulatory approval procedures, providing backing for related infrastructure expenditures, establishing guidelines for tariff-based competitive bidding, and granting an exemption from Inter-State Transmission System charges extending across 25 years starting from the date of commercial operations.
Per the Central Electricity Authority’s 2023 National Electricity Plan, the country is projected to need 74 GW with 411.4 GWh of energy storage capacity by the 2031-2032 fiscal year. The breakdown features approximately 47.24 GW with 236.22 GWh allocated to battery storage along with 26.69 GW and 175.18 GWh designated for pumped hydro energy storage.
Looking ahead to 2047, the Central Electricity Authority anticipates a requirement reaching up to 90 GW with 540 GWh specifically for pumped hydro energy storage. This forms part of an overall 320 GW with 2,380 GWh in energy storage needs, which would also encompass 230 GW with 1,840 GWh from battery energy storage systems.
An Indian startup called Delectrik was chosen to supply a 100 MWh vanadium redox flow battery energy storage installation for a 30 GW renewable energy facility located in Gujarat.
The Gujarat Hybrid Renewable Energy Park, which is also referred to as Khavda Solar Park or Khavda Renewable Energy Park, represents a collaborative, multi-developer site incorporating various technologies and already incorporates roughly 10 GW of functioning solar photovoltaic and wind power production.
This location has been positioned in a region of western India abundant in solar and wind resources, featuring sufficient contiguous land suitable for adjacent facility development and linkage to a pre-existing green corridor that enables electricity transmission via high-capacity infrastructure.
One of the primary developers involved, Adani Green Energy, has lately attained 3.37 GWh in accumulated lithium-ion battery energy storage system capacity at the Khavda site.
During February, NTPC Renewable Energy, which operates as a subsidiary of the government-owned power company NTPC, issued a call for proposals to install the long-duration flow battery technology at the Khavda facility. The invitation for bids concerning engineering, procurement, and construction work for the vanadium redox flow battery specified the installation’s power output as 16.7 MW, which corresponds to a discharge period of 5.9 hours when operating at peak capacity.
Delectrik Systems, based in Gurgaon, India, announced this morning that its joint proposal alongside infrastructure solutions firm Bondada Engineering succeeded in securing the contract to deliver the 100 MWh installation.
Delectrik chose not to reveal the monetary details of the agreement, though it indicated that the system is scheduled for installation during the coming year.
Delectrik had earlier secured a prior tender issued by the parent entity of NTPC Renewable Energy, namely NTPC, for a 600 kW with 3 MWh flow battery during 2024. That unit was installed at an NTPC research and development facility situated in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and involved collaborative development with the infrastructure firm Rays Power Infra.
The firm introduced a 2 MW with 10 MWh vanadium redox flow battery energy storage installation toward the end of 2024, engineered to achieve a space efficiency of roughly 200 MWh for each acre.
NTPC is presently evaluating an additional non-lithium long-duration energy storage approach known as the CO2 Battery, which was created by the Italian startup Energy Dome. NTPC is advancing construction of a 20 MW with 160 MWh CO2 Battery demonstration project at the location of a thermal power generation facility in Karnataka. This CO2 Battery technology retains energy using compressed carbon dioxide gas within a sealed cycle mechanism.
Originally reported by Energy Storage News on Jul 21, 2026.
