Energy Storage: The Support Solar Energy Initiative Needs.
India already has a strong lead acid battery manufacturing base. With a few infrastructural improvements, existing industrial set up can be used for Li-ion technology development. The country also needs to focus on low-cost financing and bring in regulatory frameworks in favour of the energy storage system.
March 22, 2018. By Moulin
Energy Storage: The Support Solar Energy Initiative Needs.
Mr. Ivan Saha, BU-Head- Solar Manufacturing & CTO, Vikram Solar
India already has a strong lead acid battery manufacturing base. With a few infrastructural improvements, existing industrial set up can be used for Li-ion technology development. The country also needs to focus on low-cost financing and bring in regulatory frameworks in favour of the energy storage system.
Indian solar industry has been growing at an unprecedented rate under the support and encouragement of the Government. In recent years, India has practically doubled its installed solar capacities, reaching from 5 GW in 2015 to ~14 GW in 2017. At the end of FY16-17, Indian solar industry gained an impressive bump in share of total installed energy capacity to 3.8% (in FY 15-16 it was 2.3%). While in 2017, it is important to note that coal’s share of the total energy mix witnessed a huge slump, falling by 2.5 percent.
In such a scenario when the global energy consumption is inching towards 736 quadrillion BTU in 2040, more focus on solar energy is needed to quickly transform it into a mainstream energy source. However, as this green energy source is not available to us 24x7, the urge for utilizing storage solution has a merit. And the world is taking steps towards supporting energy storage solutions to make solarisation initiatives successful.
The World is Moving Ahead with Energy Storage
United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan are well on their way in becoming key international markets. This has helped in continued price declines in energy storage systems and research estimates a 30% increase in global energy storage within FY17-18. Key countries bringing in policies to mandate energy storage procurement, and standardizing these systems with solar integration has helped the prices of these systems to drop by 23% annually (in recent years). Developed countries focusing on rooftop residential and commercial solar solutions are another reason behind quickly increasing importance of energy storage solutions.
With research estimations of continued price drop, it is fair to assume that energy storage industry will soon grow and flourish globally (and not just in developed countries).
India’s Energy Storage Initiatives and Market Drivers
Government of India has initiated National Storage Mission, which is preparing the guideline and policies to increase the usage of energy storage systems. Policies for Electrical Vehicle (EV) manufacturing (like- Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of e-vehicles or FAME) are also gaining attention as the Li-ion technology prices continues to fall.
Government of India is ready to sign off on a few initial projects, which will build the frame work this sector needs for faster country-wide adoption. In the same breath, we can highlight that latest 20 MW SPV + 28 MWh storage project that India just tendered. Within FY 18-19, more projects are expected to be seen.
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh are leading the country with solar installations, and therefore, the obvious interest to use energy storage solutions to stabilize the grid is higher in these states of India. Island states are also showing interest in using energy storage to reduce and eventually replace their diesel usage requirements to maintain power.
The Government is also planning to install 10,000 micro/mini grids complete with energy storage solutions in rural areas to illuminate the rural India.
Indian storage market drivers are-
- Solar energy sources are not available 24x7. However, it is possible to harvest enough energy from solar only through the day time to use it later at the night. However, for that, we need energy storage system (ESS).
- To use solar energy and flow it through the grid to spread energy all over India, the country needs to stabilize the energy fluctuations, which can happen due to changes in solar energy generation ratio differences in certain circumstances (cloudy sky, change in clearness, night time etc). And as India lacks a robust power grid, Bulk Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are needed to serve as safeguard against grid failure.
- 60 million households in India have no access to electricity/grid. Micro/mini grids including battery systems can help bring electricity to these houses.
These are some of the major drivers for adopting energy storage technologies in India.
Challenges to be Tackled
- Huge upfront cost of this technology makes it quite expensive to afford.
- Lead acid based batteries are cheaper than Li-ion based energy storage systems. Therefore, Indian market is flooded with lead based batteries. However, these types of batteries are incapable of sustaining a lifespan for more than 5 years within Indian climate, while Li-ion based batteries can last up to 15 years. Price for Li-ion cells has to shrink consistently for at least 2 years in order for it to become affordable.
- Numbers of Li-ion cell manufacturers have to increase in India. Government should encourage technology giants and entrepreneurs to open up energy storage manufacturing plants in India.
Making Headway
India already has a strong lead acid battery manufacturing base. With a few infrastructural improvements, existing industrial set up can be used for Li-ion technology development. The country also needs to focus on low-cost financing and bring in regulatory frameworks in favour of the energy storage system.
Global demand for green energy is rising, developed and developing countries alike are investing huge in solar energy. So, it is evident that the demand for energy storage will grow unequivocally. Therefore, this is the best time for India to support its nascent solar industry with storage solutions, for faster solarisation and global industry domination.
Bibliography:
http://www.theenergycollective.com/willcoenergy/2408164/current-trends-energy-storage-market
http://www.frost.com/sublib/display-report.do?id=MCFB-01-00-00-00
http://solarprofessional.com/articles/design-installation/solar-energy-storage#.WieyeUqWbIU
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/
http://www.globalesa.org/images/documents/GESA-WESD2017.pdf
please contact: contact@energetica-india.net.
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