India could meet 90% of its electricity needs using solar power and battery storage if it builds a massive network of 2,560 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity. This shift is now economically viable because the cost of battery technology has dropped significantly over the last two years, according to the authors of the newly released report.
“Achieving this would require around 930 GW of solar capacity and 2,560 GWh of battery storage – equivalent to 4.9 GW of solar and 13.5 GWh of battery capacity for every 1 GW of average demand.” The analysis further notes that “The main challenge is not shifting solar generation from day to night with batteries but maintaining supply during extended periods of weak solar output, especially during the monsoon.”
To move away from fossil fuels, India needs enough batteries to store the sun’s energy for use after sunset. The study suggests that for every unit of average electricity the country uses, it needs to build a specific amount of solar panels and storage capacity to ensure reliability. While batteries are now affordable enough to provide power every night, the biggest hurdle is not the daily cycle but rather the long periods of cloudy weather during the rainy season when solar panels cannot produce enough electricity to fill the reservoirs.
The report “Battery storage is now cheap enough to unleash India’s full solar potential” was published by the energy think tank Ember on April 7, 2026. It was prepared by a team of analysts led by Kostantsa Rangelova and Duttatreya Das.
