Evaluating Battery Storage in High Renewable Energy Scenarios for India

Declining costs of Lithium-based batteries can enable grid-scale storage to provide peaking capacity and energy balancing services, especially to systems with high variable renewable energy shares. Using a new capacity expansion model with high spatial and temporal resolution, we examine costoptimal investments in generation and storage capacity for high renewable energy scenarios in India. While energy generation from both wind and solar photovoltaic technologies is becoming increasingly cost-competitive with India’s traditionally dominant coal-based generation, low-cost battery storage will be key to a cost-effective transition towards deep decarbonization.