A group of leading companies and organisations from India’s energy and infrastructure sectors have called on the Government of India to accelerate the development of pumped storage as a strategic component of the country’s future electricity system.
Through the Delhi Declaration on Pumped Storage, International Hydropower Association (IHA) has brought together key industry stakeholders as signatories, consisting of: Adani Renewables, AECOM, Andritz, Avaada, Carpi Tech, EDP Power Solutions, Entura, Greenko, GSC, Renew, SMEC, Tata Power, and Torrent Power. Together, they have set out five policy priorities aimed at unlocking India’s significant pumped storage potential.
India is estimated to have nearly 267 GW of pumped storage potential, providing an opportunity to develop a large scale, domestically available source of flexibility to support renewable energy integration, grid reliability, and energy security. The country is also targeting a pumped storage pipeline of around 100 GW by 2035 – 2036.
Five priorities to accelerate pumped storage
1. Recognise pumped storage as strategic energy infrastructure
The declaration calls for pumped storage projects to be recognised as critical grid assets, with greater alignment between central and state policies. It recommends measures including long-term procurement of pumped storage capacity, improved co-ordination of transmission and project development, and greater consistency in state-level policy measures.
2. Speed up clearances and project development
Long pre-construction timelines remain a significant constraint on pumped storage development. The declaration calls for greater use of parallel processing of environmental, forest, and other approvals, single-window clearance systems, digitalisation of land and forest record, and dedicated pumped storage development zones.
3. Create greater revenue certainty
Pumped storage projects require significant upfront investment and have long operating lives. The declaration calls for market and tariff frameworks that recognise and adequately compensate the full range of services these assets can provide, including energy shifting, peak management, grid balancing, reserve provision, and ancillary services.
4. Make greater use of existing hydro assets and new project models
The declaration calls for a national assessment of opportunities to convert existing hydropower assets into pumped storage facilities, alongside the development of a National Pumped Storage Project Atlas.
5. Strengthen India's domestic pumped storage ecosystem
The declaration calls for targeted incentives and concessional finance to support OEM capacity expansion, including through Production Linked Incentive support, alongside stronger payment security and procurement frameworks. It also calls for greater emphasis on technical quality and specialist pumped storage expertise when selecting consultants and contractors.
A strategic opportunity for India's energy transition
Unlike many emerging storage technologies, pumped storage is a mature technology capable of delivering long-duration storage at large scale. It can support renewable integration, peak demand management, frequency regulation, reserve provision, and wider grid stability.
With India already building momentum in renewable energy and developing a substantial pumped storage project pipeline, the declaration calls for policy and regulatory frameworks to evolve alongside the country's changing electricity system.
Eddie Rich, CEO of the IHA, said: “India has set itself an ambitious target of 100 GW of pumped storage by 2035 – 2036. The country has proven itself as a global leader in this space. However, further measures - building on recent policy progress – would accelerate the development of India’s pumped storage sector. This Declaration sets out clear, actionable policy recommendations to attract the investment and energy needed to turn plans into projects for long-term, clean, reliable, secure, and affordable power.”
Khyati Gupta, India Policy Lead at the IHA, added: “India has an exceptional opportunity to establish pumped storage as a cornerstone of its clean energy and industrial future. The industry is ready to invest, develop and deliver but unlocking the full potential of this technology will require co-ordinated action across government, regulators and states. IHA and its members are here to lead and facilitate these dialogues.
“Pumped storage can provide the long-duration storage, flexibility and system services needed to complement India's rapidly growing renewable energy capacity. The Delhi Declaration sets out practical measures that can help turn this opportunity into projects on the ground.”
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