CBC at REI & The Battery Show India 2026: From Solar Leadership to the Storage Revolution
World CleanTech Award for Rajneesh Khattar • Global Activation of StorageVersity & AI • India’s BESS Manufacturing Momentum • New Pathways from India to Global Deployment
For the CBC Leadership Family, Renewable Energy India Expo has been much more than an exhibition.
Since 2013, CBC Leaders, Partners and Friends have actively participated in REI, accompanying the extraordinary transformation of India’s renewable-energy industry and building relationships that have grown over the years into genuine friendships, partnerships and business collaboration.
The 2026 edition, held on 22–24 October at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida together with The Battery Show India, was particularly special.
According to the official post-event figures, REI 2026 welcomed 65,133 trade visitors, 1,251 brands, 1,755 VIPs and delegates, and 351 distinguished speakers — reflecting the growing scale, confidence and international relevance of India’s CleanTech ecosystem.
For CBC, however, this year was not only about scale.
It was about people, recognition, storage, AI, manufacturing, implementation — and the next phase of India’s role in the global energy transformation.
Honouring Rajneesh Khattar — #TogetherWeAreStronger in Practice
One of the most emotional moments of this year’s participation was a special World CleanTech Awards 2025 ceremony honouring Rajneesh Khattar, widely known across the industry as the “Father of REI.”
Rajneesh is not only a faithful member and partner of the CBC Leadership Family. He has also been a trusted friend of CBC leadership for almost two decades.
Over the years, he has helped build REI into one of India’s most important platforms connecting renewable-energy companies, innovators, investors, policymakers and international industry leaders.
During the ceremony, Tomasz A. Slusarz, Founder & Action Streamliner of the CleanTech Business Club, presented Rajneesh with the World CleanTech Awards 2025 — Visionary CleanTech Public Opinion Influencer Award on behalf of Prof. Eicke R. Weber, Chair of the World CleanTech Awards Jury, following Prof. Weber’s dedicated video message.
For CBC, Rajneesh represents a very practical example of what #TogetherWeAreStronger means: building trust over many years, connecting people rather than competing with them, and creating platforms where entire industries can grow together.
StorageVersity & AI Goes Global
REI and The Battery Show India also became the stage for another important CBC milestone: the Global Activation of the 1st Global StorageVersity & AI Innovation Challenge — “From Storage Technologies to Intelligent Energy Systems.”
The Challenge is Produced by the World CleanTech & AI Institute and CleanTech Business Club, Powered by ACWA, with SNEC as Strategic Partner, and supported by a growing international ecosystem of Award Presenting Partners, industry organisations and event platforms.
Its ambition goes beyond recognising individual storage technologies.
StorageVersity & AI connects batteries, hydrogen, thermal, mechanical, long-duration and distributed storage with AI, digitalisation, infrastructure and real-world demand, creating a pathway from:
Technologies → Systems → Pilots → Deployment → Global Scale.
The Global Activation in Greater Noida brought this philosophy directly into one of the world’s fastest-growing energy-storage markets.
A special thanks goes to Dr Rashi Gupta “Batterywali”, Chair of CBC’s global #WoMen4CleanTech initiative and a key member of the StorageVersity & AI leadership ecosystem, for being part of this activation moment.
India’s innovators, startups, research teams, technology companies, system integrators and industrial leaders are warmly invited to participate.
The Challenge particularly welcomes pioneering solutions in BESS, AI-enabled storage, EMS, digital twins, power electronics, multi-storage systems, distributed storage and intelligent infrastructure.
Global Submission Deadline: 30 January 2027
More information and Submission Form: https://www.cleantechbusiness.club/storageversity
India’s Battery Storage Revolution Is Becoming Reality
If one message stood out clearly throughout REI and The Battery Show India, it was this:
Battery storage in India is moving from ambition to implementation.
The policy environment is accelerating rapidly.
India’s Ministry of Power is already administering a VGF scheme supporting approximately 13.8 GWh of BESS with ₹3,760 crore, while an additional scheme backed by ₹5,400 crore has been approved for another 30 GWh across states and NTPC.
In September 2026, the Government also approved Green Energy Corridor Phase III, including 50 GWh of BESS and ₹50,000 crore allocated specifically for battery storage as part of a much broader grid-modernisation investment.
The Central Electricity Authority projects a requirement of approximately 47.24 GW / 236 GWh of BESS by 2031–32. Looking further ahead, India’s national energy-storage framework already speaks in terawatt-hours: by 2047, storage requirements are projected at 2,380 GWh — or 2.38 TWh — including 1.84 TWh of BESS.
This change in scale is significant.
India is no longer discussing storage only as an accessory to renewable energy. Storage is increasingly becoming core energy infrastructure — necessary for grid flexibility, renewable integration, peak management, resilience and the next generation of industrial and digital systems.
From Deployment to Manufacturing — Building the Indian Storage Value Chain
The next transformation is equally important: India is moving deeper into the storage manufacturing value chain.
That shift was visible throughout the exhibition — from cells and battery-management systems to containers, inverters, testing equipment, software and complete BESS solutions.
A particularly important example is Waaree, led by Dr Hitesh Doshi, Chairman & Managing Director of Waaree Group and Chair of the CBC India Chapter.
Waaree has outlined a 20 GWh storage cell and BESS manufacturing roadmap, with Phase I of approximately 3.5 GWh expected during FY27 and the remaining 16.5 GWh targeted for FY28. Its stated overall planned outlay for the storage build-out is approximately ₹10,000 crore.
Importantly, implementation has already started. Waaree announced in July 2026 that it had commenced an advanced 5.15 GWh automated BESS container manufacturing facility at Rola, Gujarat, described as the first milestone in its wider 20 GWh roadmap.
This direction matters strategically.
India’s energy transformation will increasingly depend not only on deploying renewable energy and storage, but on creating domestic capability across cells, packs, containers, electronics, power systems, software and integration — while simultaneously building export-ready companies capable of serving international markets.
Feston ESS — From Vision to a 3 GWh Factory
Another very tangible example came from Feston ESS, a faithful CBC Business Partner led by its young visionary Founder & CEO, Sampath Kumar.
During REI, Feston celebrated its expansion into battery energy storage with a dedicated ribbon-cutting ceremony and product launch.
Tomasz A. Slusarz joined the ceremony as a special guest, symbolically cutting the ribbon together with Noushad Sharafudeen — the “Solar Man of Kerala” — and other industry leaders and friends.
Feston’s move into storage reflects exactly what CBC observed across India: companies that built their foundation in solar, inverters and power electronics are now expanding into integrated energy-storage solutions.
The company is developing a 3 GWh BESS manufacturing facility in Chennai, designed to serve residential and commercial applications and broaden its portfolio from inverters toward integrated solar + storage + power-electronics systems.
CBC was also honoured to receive an exclusive invitation to the Grand Opening of the new Feston ESS factory in Chennai on 16 November 2026.
The opening will be followed by an intimate CEO Gathering, creating another opportunity to connect international and Indian leaders around storage, manufacturing and deployment.
CEO & CTO Conclaves — From Targets to Implementation
CBC Leadership also actively participated in the CEO and CTO Conclaves, which offered another important perspective on India’s rapidly evolving energy ecosystem.
The discussions reflected a sector that is increasingly moving beyond headline capacity targets toward the much harder questions of implementation:
How quickly can manufacturing be localised?How can projects become bankable?How can batteries, power electronics, AI and digital platforms be integrated more intelligently?How can infrastructure be scaled while maintaining quality and safety?How can Indian companies expand internationally?
What emerged was a clear sense that India’s next CleanTech chapter will be driven not simply by installing more capacity, but by building complete industrial ecosystems around technology, manufacturing, engineering, digitalisation, finance and deployment.
This is also exactly where CBC sees significant potential for future international collaboration.
From India to Morocco, Africa and Global Markets
Many Indian companies are increasingly looking beyond their domestic market. During REI, CBC discussions therefore also focused on opportunities to connect Indian technology providers and manufacturers with the growing CBC Morocco Ecosystem and, more broadly, African and MENA markets.
Morocco is entering a new implementation phase across solar, energy storage, e-mobility, clean hydrogen and integrated energy infrastructure.
For Indian companies, participation does not necessarily require immediate local manufacturing.
The first phase can include technology supply, participation in projects, EPC cooperation, financing solutions, strategic partnerships and joint pilot implementation.
As market demand develops, localisation and manufacturing can follow.
This creates a natural pathway:
India’s Technology & Manufacturing Capability → Morocco’s Project Pipeline → Africa & International Deployment
For CBC, this is exactly the kind of global ecosystem-building that can transform strong national companies into long-term international partners.
Thumbs Up for Solar — Ending REI with Positive Energy
After several intensive days of meetings, ceremonies, panels, technology launches and strategic discussions, there was only one proper way for the CBC Leadership Family to close REI 2026:
Thumbs Up for Solar! 👍☀️
Together with Ajit Bahadur and his amazing Solar Premier League / Solar Is My Passion team, CBC celebrated the people behind India’s solar transformation — particularly installers, EPC professionals and the wider community translating ambitious energy targets into real systems on roofs, industrial sites and power plants.
The Solar Premier League Season 7, organised alongside REI 2026, once again put skills, execution and recognition of solar professionals at the centre of the industry conversation.
It was a fitting conclusion to a remarkable week.
Because technologies matter.
Factories matter.
Policies, investment and AI matter.
But ultimately, transformation happens because people decide to build it together.
From India to the World
REI & The Battery Show India 2026 confirmed once again why India remains one of the most important pillars of CBC’s global ecosystem.
The scale is growing.
The technology is advancing.
Manufacturing is deepening.
Storage is becoming mainstream infrastructure.
And Indian companies are increasingly ready not only to serve their home market, but to participate in the global CleanTech transformation.
For the CBC Leadership Family, the next step is clear:
From Vision to Intelligent Delivery at Scale.
And, as always: #TogetherWeAreStronger
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