All charged up: India’s battery storage plans
renewable energy. Solar energy is generated during the day and wind during the season, but the energy generated goes to waste in case there is low demand. BESS are intelligent systems that use algorithms to coordinate with the grid and decide whether to store or release energy.
BESS are built using lithium-ion batteries whose high energy density, declining prices and long life are ideal for energy storage. Unlike fossil fuel, renewable energy by nature is intermittent. This creates challenges for grid management: a sudden surge or drop in power generation can lead to blackouts.
Many utilities continue to use fossil fuel-based power plants only to avoid this eventuality. BESS balances the intermittency of renewable power and provides grid stability. It can thus help reduce the dependency on fossil fuel and increase the share of renewable energy, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
If the world is to meet the Paris Agreement climate objectives in reining in global warming, BESS is critical. We are at the start line with a capacity of just 37MWh. If India is to meet its renewable energy target of 500GW by 2030, it will need BESS packs of more than 200GWh.
Big firms like NTPC, Reliance, Adani and JSW are interested. The International Energy Agency expects India’s storage capacity at 200GWh by 2040, the highest in the world. Recently, the Centre approved a scheme to create BESS capacity of 4GWh by 2030-31.
It offers viability gap funding to the developers to the tune of ₹3,760 crore. The funding, capped at 40% of project cost, will be offered over three years from 2023-24 to 2025-26. This could significantly cut the cost of battery storage.
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