India Approves Floating-Solar Scheme With Mandatory Storage Amid Rising Curtailment
India’s Union Cabinet on Friday approved an INR50.7 billion ($532 million) program supporting the development of 5 gigawatts of floating solar capacity paired with at least 10 gigawatt-hours of co-located energy storage.
Projects supported under the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana or PM-SSY scheme must include storage with a minimum discharge duration of two hours. Capacity will be approved and allocated to developers between fiscal years 2026–27 and 2030–31, while financial assistance may continue to be disbursed through fiscal year 2032-33.
Eligible projects will receive central financial assistance of INR10 million per megawatt following successful commissioning. Developers may also receive up to INR5 million per project for feasibility work, including bathymetric and hydrographic surveys, environmental assessments and other preparatory studies.
If the full targeted capacity is commissioned, the program could increase India’s installed floating-solar capacity from around 700MW to approximately 5.7GW, according to the government announcement. All states and union territories will be eligible to participate.
The scheme follows the publication of India’s first nationwide floating-solar resource assessment by the National Institute of Solar Energy in June. The study identified 102.18GW of technically feasible potential across reservoirs and other inland water bodies.
Maharashtra recorded the largest assessed potential at 16.28GW, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 14.89GW, Karnataka at 13.69GW, Odisha at 12.81GW and Telangana at 10.72GW.
The government estimates that PM-SSY could avoid around 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and generate 16,000–17,000 full-time-equivalent jobs. It also expects the program to support domestic production of floating structures, solar cells and modules, and energy-storage equipment.
Mandatory Storage Amid Worsening Curtailment
Beyond expanding floating-solar capacity, PM-SSY represents a significant extension of mandatory energy storage within India’s solar-support framework. A market participant described PM-SSY as India’s first large-scale nationwide solar program requiring co-located storage across its entire project pipeline.
The Central Electricity Authority had previously advised implementing agencies to include two-hour co-located storage, sized at 10% of project capacity, in future solar tenders. PM-SSY goes further by applying a two-hour storage requirement across an entire 5GW national floating-solar program.
The mandate comes amid growing pressure on the country’s transmission network and increasing concern over the grid’s ability to absorb rapidly expanding solar generation, resulting in solar plants being told to reduce or stop electricity generation.
In a written reply to Parliament on July 28, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Shripad Yesso Naik said 8,133GWh of solar generation was curtailed between April and June 2026. This was around 18% more than the 6,900GWh curtailed during the whole of fiscal year 2025–26.
The restrictions were attributed to grid-security requirements and a mismatch between the commissioning of renewable-energy projects and associated transmission infrastructure.
Projects relying on temporary grid access have faced particularly severe constraints. In a press release, credit rating agency ICRA estimated that around one-third of 54.8GW of recently commissioned renewable capacity was being evacuated through Temporary General Network Access as of May 2026.
Curtailment for some projects using temporary grid access reached 50%–60% during solar-generation hours, particularly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, according to the agency.
ICRA also reported that only around 12% of transmission projects awarded through tariff-based competitive bidding and scheduled for completion by March 2026 were commissioned on time. Delays among the remaining projects ranged from two months to three years, with a median delay of more than 10 months.
The agency warned that further delays to transmission infrastructure could continue to restrict renewable generation and weaken project returns.
—Reporting by Jun Won Lee, jlee1@opisnet.com; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mwong@opisnet.com