India’s accelerating shift toward renewable energy is the central reason battery energy storage systems (BESS) are growing rapidly. As solar and wind take up a larger share of the installed power mix, their natural intermittency creates a growing gap between when clean power is generated and when electricity is actually needed.

At the same time, India’s power demand profile is evolving toward sharper firm and peak-period requirements, driven by urban consumption and industrial activity.

BESS has become a critical enabler for India’s energy transition, helping store surplus renewable power and dispatch it when generation dips, ensuring grid stability and allowing renewable capacity to expand without compromising reliability.

Coupled with supportive policy signals and steadily improving storage economics, these factors are pushing BESS into mainstream grid infrastructure across the country.

In 2025, various agencies in India floated tenders to develop projects with 17 GW/48 GWh of standalone BESS.

Here are the top tenders issued in 2025:

#1 NTPC floated the largest tender to develop 2,500 MW/10,000 MWh standalone BESS at NTPC’s thermal stations. The capacity at each station is 500 MW/2,000 MWh, with two 250 MW blocks per plant. All capacities are measured at a 400 kV/220 kV interconnecting point. The designed service life of BESS should be 20 years for daily single-cycle operation.

#2 The second-largest one was tendered by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) to procure power from 2,000 MW/4,000 MWh of standalone BESS with viability gap funding (VGF) support. The storage systems will be deployed across multiple locations near MSEDCL or the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company substations.

#3 The third-largest tender was issued by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL) to develop a 2,000 MW/4,000 MWh standalone BESS project under Phase VII of GUVNL’s BESS program. The BESS installations will be connected to Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation, including substations at Charanka, Shapar, and Bhogat, among others.

#4 The Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTRANSCO) floated the fourth-largest tender to develop 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone BESS across seven substations in the state. The projects will be developed under a build, own, and operate model through tariff-based competitive bidding, with VGF support.

#5 The fifth-largest tender was issued by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (RVUNL) to set up 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone BESS at six locations in the state. Apart from setting up the BESS, the scope of work entails making the storage facility available to RVUNL for its on-demand charging and discharging.

India’s cumulative installed energy storage capacity reached 490 MWh by the end of June 2025, according to Mercom India Research’s India’s Energy Storage Landscape 1H 2025 Report.