India’s record-low storage bids spark viability and safety concerns

• Rock-bottom battery bids raise fears of unbuildable projects and lower-quality systems in India’s push to scale storage.

India wants tens of gigawatt-hours of batteries to firm an enormous pipeline of wind and solar. What it got in recent tenders were eye-catching, record-low bids—so low that industry veterans and analysts now worry some projects won’t pencil at all. Prices reportedly dropped near or below ₹1.5/kWh for storage services, levels that could force developers toward cheaper, shorter-life chemistries and put safety at risk in hot climates. The country has only a sliver of operational capacity relative to what’s been tendered, with cancellations mounting and timelines slipping.

At the heart of the issue are tender rules that prize price over technical eligibility, opening the door to under-experienced players and speculative bidding. Established developers, wary of thin margins and opaque revenue certainty, are sitting out. The irony is painful: storage is essential to make India’s renewable build deliver evening megawatt-hours; undercooked tenders delay exactly that outcome. 

Fixes are straightforward in concept, difficult in politics: set minimum technical benchmarks (cycle life, performance guarantees, and safety standards), require proven integrator track records, and align payment structures with multi-service operation so projects don’t depend on a single fragile revenue stream. Domestic manufacturing can help on costs, but only if paired with quality standards and bankable warranties.

If India recalibrates now, it can still capture scale economies without sacrificing reliability. If it doesn’t, the risk isn’t just unbuilt projects—it’s installed systems that fail early in the field.