In a significant move to strengthen workforce readiness for India’s evolving clean energy landscape, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ) signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2025. The agreement lays the foundation for a collaborative framework aimed at enhancing human resource capacity through joint skilling, training, and knowledge exchange initiatives in the energy and environmental sectors.
The MoU was formalized during a high-level roundtable on skill development for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), attended by key industry stakeholders, policymakers, and institutional leaders. The ceremony featured opening remarks from Dr. PK Bhattacharya, Director at TERI, and a special address by SCGJ CEO Mr. Arpit Sharma.
In his address, Dr. Bhattacharya highlighted the importance of institutional capacity building to complement recent policy advances, such as the second tranche of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) announced in June 2025. “Lowering upfront costs in grid-scale battery storage is only one piece of the puzzle,” he said. “To realize our national targets, we must invest in bridging the skill gaps, strengthening institutional capabilities, and aligning workforce development with industry needs.”
Mr. Sharma emphasized the critical role of workforce readiness in achieving India’s renewable energy goals. “As we target 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, supported by 50% non-fossil energy use and the need for round-the-clock (RTC) power, battery storage becomes indispensable. Yet, the sector remains largely untapped in terms of skilling. This partnership with TERI will focus on conducting a skill gap assessment, identifying emerging job roles, designing curricula, and delivering training aligned with national standards.”
The collaboration is anchored within the framework of the StoREin (Scaling up Storage in Renewable Energy Integration) project, supported by the Indo-German development cooperation. The initiative is implemented by GIZ GmbH on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), under the International Climate Initiative (IKI), in coordination with India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Under the agreement, TERI and SCGJ will jointly undertake a wide range of capacity-building activities including:
- Skill gap assessments across the BESS value chain
- Curriculum development and training course design
- Stakeholder engagement with industry and academia
- Development of certification and accreditation frameworks
- National survey on workforce readiness in energy storage
The roundtable session also addressed curriculum relevance, access to practical training infrastructure, and strategies to build a skilled, inclusive, and future-ready workforce. Attendees included senior officials from renewable energy firms, battery manufacturers, DISCOMs, academic institutions, training providers, consultants, and financial institutions.
India’s National Electricity Plan estimates a requirement of 47.24 GW of battery energy storage capacity by 2031–32. In this context, the TERI-SCGJ partnership represents a pivotal step toward equipping India’s workforce with the skills needed to drive innovation, manage technological integration, and support the country’s ambitious energy transition goals.
This MoU underscores the growing recognition that achieving energy security and climate targets hinges not just on infrastructure and policy—but equally on human capital.
