Engie India: ‘Every future project to be designed with storage integration’

Storage and renewables-plus-storage hybrid projects will define the next phase of India’s energy transition, according to Shantanu Upasani, director for construction at Engie India.

The executive told pv magazine India Engie is “embedding” storage into its Indian projects to “ease transmission stress and make renewable power dispatchable and predictable – critical as India scales RTC [round the clock] and FDRE [firm and dispatchable renewable energy] projects.”

Upasani said, “Three trends are defining the next phase of India’s renewable market. First is the rise of hybrids and storage. Round-the-clock solutions are displacing the traditional baseload model, with BESS [battery energy storage system], solar, and wind integration becoming the anchor for reliable 24/7 supply. Engie aims to operate 7 GW of renewable[s] and storage capacit[y] in India by 2030, with 75% of new capacity solar-linked, and every future project designed with storage integration.”

The Engie executive also pointed to a surge in demand for corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) in India and said Engie’s PPAs are tailored to include storage.

With “the digital transformation of renewable[s] operations” cited as the third key trend, Upasani said Engie’s battery optimization system already operates more than 40 BESS worldwide, improving fleet availability up to 10%. Those tools will be “embedded” in India, he added.

Re-emphasizing Engie’s “strong focus on hybrid and storage-backed projects,” Upasani said India’s energy transition now requires “harmonized state regulations, streamlined approvals, and faster grid upgrades.”