Battery storage is now cheap enough to unleash India’s full solar potential

Battery economics have improved sharply in the last two years. Our thought experiment shows that solar and batteries can already meet 90% of India’s electricity demand at a competitive levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of INR 5.06/kWh ($56/MWh).

This thought experiment shows that national solar with battery storage could have met 90% of India’s 2024 electricity demand with 930 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity, a fraction of the country’s enormous solar potential, and 2,560 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery storage capacity. Battery storage turns daytime solar into reliable electricity after sunset. The main challenge is extended periods of low solar output, especially during the monsoon and not a lack of battery capacity.

The economics are already very attractive. Solar has become “the cheapest form of electricity in history“, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), since 2020. More recently, battery economics have improved dramatically in just the last two years. Following a sharp 40% fall in turnkey battery costs in 2024, 2025 saw another big fall of 31%. Previous Ember analysis has shown that falling battery costs and improving storage technologies are making round-the-clock solar electricity increasingly viable, enabling it to meet 90% of electricity demand efficiently in solar-rich countries like Mexico, and helping them become global solar superpowers. India is also one of these solar-rich countries. With access to solar and battery technologies at globally competitive prices, it can unleash this potential to meet large shares of its demand.

The LCOE at which solar-plus-battery storage could meet 90% of India’s electricity stands at a competitive INR 5.06/kWh ($56/MWh). The ten largest states by electricity demand are similarly well-positioned to take advantage of India’s enormous solar potential, owing to favourable demand patterns where high demand coincides with seasonally higher solar radiation and eases during the low solar-output period of the monsoon.