India approves $19.3bn grid programme with its first 50 GWh battery allocation
Victoria Shinder1 min readIndia's Union Cabinet has approved INR 1.86 trillion, about US$19.3 billion, for the third phase of the Green Energy Corridor, Energy-Storage.news reports. For the first time the programme includes a dedicated storage component: INR 500 billion, about US$5.2 billion, for 50 GWh of battery energy storage, alongside INR 1.37 trillion for intra-state transmission.
The transmission share is meant to carry up to 135 GW of renewable energy across states and union territories by the 2032-33 fiscal year. The batteries will be placed at renewable developer and generator sites and at other strategically important grid locations, to address intermittency, transmission congestion and peak-hour curtailment, and to shift renewable power into the evening hours when demand stays high. The government has not given project-level details on technology, duration or procurement; at scheme level, the allocation works out at about INR 10 million per MWh of planned capacity.
The case for it is in the curtailment figures. According to government data, around 6,900 GWh of clean electricity faced restrictions in the 2026 fiscal year because transmission did not keep up with new renewables. Between April and June, when peak demand reached a record 270 GW, grid operators curtailed 8,133 GWh of solar generation because of transmission constraints and grid security requirements, the renewables ministry told Parliament in July. JMK Research puts variable renewable curtailment at 1,874 million units in the second quarter of 2026, up 558.5% on the first quarter.
Why it matters
India is building solar faster than the lines to carry it, and the losses are now large enough to justify storage as grid infrastructure rather than as a project add-on. How the 50 GWh is procured, and for how many hours of duration, will decide whether it relieves the evening peak or only the midday surplus.