The Cabinet Approved Rs 14,500 Crore on 4 November 2026 to Support 92 GWh of Grid-Scale Energy Storage, 60 GWh of It Pumped Hydro

The Union Cabinet approved a Rs 14,500 crore Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme on Wednesday 4 November 2026 to support 92 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of grid-scale energy storage across FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31. The official release says the new capacity equals 170 per cent of the grid-scale storage the country has today. A gigawatt-hour is one gigawatt of power delivered for one hour, or a million ordinary units of electricity. VGF is government money that improves a project’s finances so that it can be built and financed.

The scheme covers storage “yet to be commissioned”, in the release’s words, so none of the 92 GWh is capacity that already exists. As of 5 November 2026 the Cabinet decision is a day old and the scheme’s detailed guidelines were not among the pages read for this article.

What the Cabinet approved

The release lays out three technologies. 60 GWh is to come from hydro pumped storage plants, 30 GWh from battery energy storage systems (BESS) and 2 GWh from alternative storage technologies. The government estimates the projects will draw Rs 97,600 crore of investment. By tuput’s arithmetic the Rs 14,500 crore of support is about 15 per cent of that figure.

Capacity is to be allocated through tariff-based competitive bidding, meaning developers compete on the tariff they offer. Public and private electricity distribution companies are eligible for VGF on battery and pumped hydro projects. Alternative-technology projects are to be implemented by public and private sector entities. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, briefing reporters after the meeting, said the scheme would be implemented with state governments and spread across the country, according to Upstox.

Battery projects must meet a minimum domestic content requirement of 40 per cent. The release says this complements the existing incentives for battery manufacturing and aims to reduce import dependence. It gives no per-project or per-GWh support rate.

Why a grid with 300 GW of clean capacity needs storage

Solar and wind produce power when the sun shines and the wind blows, which does not always match when people use it. The release says storage lets the grid make more use of renewable output, steadies the grid and cuts reliance on conventional plants for round-the-clock supply.

The government counted India’s installed non-fossil capacity as past 300 GW by July 2026, with a target of 500 GW by 2030, according to the PIB Research note of 19 October. The 299 GW renewable count for September and the 300 GW non-fossil milestone are set out in earlier articles, as is the solar build-out.

The PIB note describes the two main technologies as complementary. Batteries respond rapidly and suit short periods, such as frequency control and peak management. Pumped storage moves water between two reservoirs at different heights and holds energy for longer.

Where the 411 GWh comes from

The Cabinet release says the scheme will help meet a required grid-scale storage capacity of 411 GWh by 2031-32. The Ministry of Power’s reply of 27 July 2026 gives the source: the National Electricity Plan (Generation), notified in the Gazette in May 2023. For 2031-32 it projects 47.24 GW and 236 GWh of battery storage, and 26.69 GW and 175 GWh of pumped storage. Added together, that is the 411 GWh. The same reply puts the estimated investment at about Rs 3.49 lakh crore for batteries and Rs 1.29 lakh crore for pumped storage by 2031-32.

The 92 GWh is about 22 per cent of 411 GWh, by tuput’s arithmetic. The plan’s requirement for 2026-27, the year the scheme starts, is 34 GWh of batteries and 47 GWh of pumped storage, per the same reply.

The 60 GWh of pumped hydro

The PIB Research note says India had 7.43 GW of operating pumped storage across 10 projects above 25 MW as of August 2026. It cites the International Renewable Energy Agency for India ranking fourth in the world at the end of 2025, with 7.18 GW, behind China, Japan and the United States.

The Ministry of Power’s statement of 20 July 2026 lists 11 pumped storage projects with 15,870 MW under construction. The targets it gives include the 1,920 MW MP30 Gandhi Sagar plant (Greenko) in Madhya Pradesh for December 2026, the 500 MW Kundah plant in Tamil Nadu and the 500 MW Chitravathi plant in Andhra Pradesh for February 2027, the 1,600 MW Saundatti plant in Karnataka for December 2027, and the 1,000 MW Bhivpuri plant (Tata Power) in Maharashtra for February 2029. Another 6 plants with 8,140 MW had been cleared by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) but not yet taken up for construction. The PIB Research note of 19 October counts 8 such projects with 10.40 GW.

The CEA has identified 320 possible pumped storage sites with 345.38 GW of potential. Maharashtra has the most, 67.36 GW. Its roadmap envisages 100.81 GW commissioned by 2035-36, which would take the total to 105.56 GW.

The release states the 60 GWh as energy, not as megawatts. How many plants that equals depends on how many hours each can run at full output.

Batteries and the 30 GWh

The Cabinet scheme follows two earlier battery VGF schemes. The Ministry of Power said on 30 March 2026 that two earlier VGF schemes, launched in March 2024 and June 2025, were supporting about 43 GWh of battery storage. Its 27 July reply gave 43.8 GWh. On 30 March the Ministry also reported 35.8 GWh of battery capacity under construction.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries’ production-linked incentive scheme for 50 GWh of advanced chemistry cell manufacturing has an outlay of Rs 18,100 crore, with 10 GWh earmarked for grid-scale storage, per the same March release.

Published counts of what is running today do not agree. The Ministry’s March reply listed 798 MWh across projects above 1 MWh. Its 3 August reply said 2,668.54 MW and 7,785.6 MWh of battery capacity was added “during 2026”. A CEA official put operational battery capacity at 5.3 GWh, in an address reported by Energy-Storage.News on 27 October. The Cabinet release gives no GWh figure for the base behind the 170 per cent. Dividing 92 by 1.7 gives roughly 54 GWh, which is tuput’s arithmetic and not an official number.

What comes next

The scheme’s bidding rounds and guidelines are still to come as of 5 November 2026. The earliest commissioning target on the Ministry’s 20 July list is December 2026, for the 1,920 MW MP30 Gandhi Sagar plant.