The government is planning to come up with 25,000 mega-watt-hour (Mwh) of electricity storage systems, which will be utilised by the upcoming large-scale renewable energy projects to enhance the security of the electricity grid to balance supply fluctuations from solar and wind based power sources. “India is planning to have around 12 Gwh of battery storage in Ladakh and we are going to have 13 Gwh of battery storage system in Khevada (Gujarat)”, secretary to the Union power ministry Alok Kumar said on Thursday.
The government has plans for setting up large renewable energy projects in both these places. Recently, state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India has invited expression of interest for 1,000 MWh battery energy storage system, Kumar stated while speaking at the inaugural session of the CII South Asia Summit. The government has already approved the production-linked incentive scheme on battery storage for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50,000 Mwh with an outlay of Rs 18,100 crore. Based on an analysis conducted by PwC, the total cumulative potential for battery storage in India will be 5,50,000 MWh by 2030.
Most of the power storage tenders floated till date has been for 8-10 Mwh. According to a CII report released in July, the larger storage tenders floated till date in the country include a 3,200 Mwh tender by the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh and a 1,000 Mwh storage contract by NTPC. Kumar said that the government is also working on an ambitious policy on pumped hydro storage projects. The present installed capacity of pumped storage hydro projects is 4,785 MW of, which are used as devices for storing electricity. Another 1,500 MW of pumped storage hydro projects are under construction.
In a webinar organised by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy and the International Energy Agency, SKG Rahate, additional secretary, Union power ministry recently said that “the new policy (on pumped hydro) will deal with regulation, finance and investment, and demand management”. The government has recently awarded 1,200 MW of renewables and storage in a tender that included 900 MW of pumped storage, offering a weighted average price of Rs 4.04/unit and a peak tariff of Rs 6.12/unit, and 300 MW of battery storage at average Rs 4.3/unit peak tariff of Rs 6.85/unit.
Source: financialexpress.com
