But here’s the twist: peak demand isn’t just daytime. At night, ACs keep humming, and solar panels are offline. That’s the gap; and our current battery storage plans won’t cut it. The government’s roadmap? 80 GW of batteries (4-hour discharge) and 94 GW of pumped hydro (6-hour). Sounds impressive; until you realize: what happens during multi-day cloudy or windless spells? India’s green transition hinges on solving this quiet crisis. Without long-duration storage, renewables can’t truly replace coal. And that’s the real energy challenge no one’s talking about.