How much storage is that in practice?

For a 100 MW solar plant, at least 10 MW of co-located storage with two hours of duration, which is 20 MWh. For projects commissioned between 1 July 2029 and 30 June 2031, the duration requirement rises to four hours while the capacity share stays at 10%, so the same 100 MW plant would need 10 MW / 40 MWh.

What is a grid-forming inverter and why mandate it?

A conventional grid-following inverter synchronises to a voltage and frequency that the grid already provides. A grid-forming inverter establishes voltage and frequency itself, so it can hold a network up rather than merely follow it. As synchronous generators are displaced, the system loses the inertia they supplied, and grid-forming capability substitutes for part of it. The CEA draft would require all battery storage power conversion systems to have grid-forming control.

No. It is a draft notification issued under Section 177 of the Electricity Act, 2003. Comments and objections were invited until 4 October 2026, and the regulations are to be considered after 30 days from publication. Percentages for grid-forming capability and storage capacity can be varied by the CEA later.

Does this apply to rooftop solar in the UAE?

No. This is Indian regulation and it targets ground-mounted utility-scale solar and onshore wind, not rooftops, and not the UAE. Its relevance here is commercial: India is the second-largest solar market after China, and a rule that attaches batteries to gigawatts of new plant changes what global manufacturers build and price.

Новости5 Sept 20268 мин чтения

India plans mandatory storage on new solar from 2027

Q: What exactly has India's CEA proposed?

A draft amendment to the Central Electricity Authority technical standards for construction of electric plants and electric lines, notified on 3 September 2026. Ground-mounted solar and onshore wind projects commissioned from 1 July 2027 would need co-located energy storage of at least 10% of installed capacity with a minimum two-hour duration, and at least 15% of a plant's inverters would need grid-forming control.

India proposes mandatory storage and grid-forming inverters from 2027

India's CEA has proposed that solar and wind plants commissioned from 1 July 2027 carry co-located storage of at least 10% of capacity for two hours.

India has proposed making battery storage mandatory on new solar and wind plants. The Central Electricity Authority issued a draft notification on 3 September 2026 requiring ground-mounted solar and onshore wind projects commissioned from 1 July 2027 to carry co-located storage of at least 10% of installed capacity with a two-hour minimum duration, plus grid-forming control on at least 15% of inverters.

Key parameters of the CEA draft

Параметр	Значение	Источник
Instrument	Draft 2nd Amendment to CEA Technical Standards for Construction of Electric Plants and Electric Lines Regulations, 2026	CEA
Date notified	3 September 2026, under Section 177 of the Electricity Act, 2003	CEA
Applies from	Projects commissioned on or after 1 July 2027	CEA
Grid-forming requirement	At least 15% of a plant's inverters	CEA
Grid-forming on storage	All BESS power conversion systems	CEA
Co-located storage, phase one	10% of installed capacity, 2-hour minimum duration	CEA
Worked example, phase one	100 MW plant needs 10 MW / 20 MWh	CEA, via PV Tech
Co-located storage, phase two	4-hour duration for projects commissioned 1 Jul 2029 to 30 Jun 2031, capacity share unchanged at 10%	CEA
Worked example, phase two	100 MW plant needs 10 MW / 40 MWh	CEA, via PV Tech
Consultation deadline	4 October 2026	CEA
Indian renewable capacity, 30 June 2026	288 GW, including 162 GW solar and 57 GW wind	JMK Research Q2 2026 India RE Update
Pipeline at that date	149 GW of solar, wind, hybrid and storage	JMK Research

Why a regulator mandates storage rather than pricing it

India has 162 GW of solar on a system that was not designed for it, and 149 GW more in the pipeline. Two problems follow. The first is transmission: evacuating midday output from renewable-rich states has become a binding constraint. The second is stability: as thermal plant is displaced, the rotating mass that used to hold frequency steady disappears with it, and nothing automatically replaces it.

A capacity market or a scarcity price would in theory make developers solve both voluntarily. A construction standard does it by fiat, which is faster and blunter. The cost lands on the developer and, through tariffs, on the offtaker. The draft explicitly reserves the CEA's right to change the percentages later, which reads as an acknowledgement that 10% and two hours are an opening position rather than an engineering conclusion.

Procurement has been moving this way already, ahead of the rule. In June 2026 the Solar Energy Corporation of India tendered 1,200 MW of firm and dispatchable renewable capacity backed by 4,800 MWh of co-located storage, and in August it awarded a 1 GW round-the-clock tender at tariffs of INR 5.25-5.26 per kWh. The draft standard formalises a direction the market had already chosen.

What grid-forming control actually changes

A grid-following inverter measures the grid's voltage and frequency and injects current in step with it. Remove enough synchronous generation and there is nothing left to follow. A grid-forming inverter instead behaves as a voltage source, setting frequency and phase itself, so it can ride through disturbances and support black start. The hardware difference is modest; the control software, the testing regime and the compliance certification are not, and that is where the cost sits.

Requiring grid-forming control on every battery power conversion system is the more consequential half of the draft. It effectively rules out a class of cheaper PCS units from the Indian market from mid-2027, and manufacturers building for India will not maintain two product lines for long.

The SOLTECH view

This is Indian regulation and it has no direct force in the UAE. It matters here because India is the second-largest solar market on earth, and what India mandates, the supply chain builds.

For a villa or building owner in the UAE: no effect on your system, your DEWA tariff or your approval process. Rooftop solar under Shams Dubai is not affected by anything in this draft. The second-order effect, if it appears at all, is on hybrid inverter pricing two to three years out, as manufacturers absorb grid-forming compliance costs across their whole range rather than one product line. That is a plausible mechanism, not a forecast, and we would not put a number on it.
For an EPC contractor: watch the storage-to-solar ratio being normalised here. Ten per cent of capacity for two hours is a modest, deliberately cheap starting point - and it doubles to four hours from 2029. Gulf procurement is heading to far higher ratios: DEWA phase seven pairs 2,000 MW of solar with 8,400 MWh. A contractor who can quote, install and commission a BESS alongside PV is qualifying for a market that pure-PV contractors are being written out of. See how we select inverters.
For an investor: the honest read is that mandated storage raises capital cost per megawatt of solar and lowers curtailment risk, and the net effect on returns depends entirely on how the offtaker pays for it. India's tariff outcomes will be the test case: the 1 GW round-the-clock award at INR 5.25-5.26 per kWh is the number to track against unbundled solar tariffs over the next year. Do not assume the mandate is value-destructive without watching that spread. See how we frame project economics.

What we would not claim: that the UAE will copy this. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are already procuring storage voluntarily and at ratios far above 10%, because the driver here is an afternoon and evening air-conditioning peak rather than a midday transmission bottleneck. India is retrofitting a rule onto a fleet built without storage. The GCC has the luxury of specifying it up front, and that is a better position to be in.

Источники: Central Electricity Authority - draft Technical Standards amendment regulations, 2026, CEA - What's new, consultation notice, PV Tech - India's CEA proposes mandatory storage for new solar, wind projects from 2027, 4 September 2026.

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