Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

that’s much appreciated. So far, most of our suggestions have been heard and some of them have made it into the pol - icies and that’s very welcoming. There are several other incentives, including the PLI scheme, which is great for Rs 18,100 crore. If we look at the rest of the world, we have a lot of catching up to do as some of the countries are about 8 to 10 years ahead of us. For example, the amount of support given by China to their industry is sizable and larger than what India has committed right now. However, India is moving ahead and has made fantastic contributions to sup - port the industry. More importantly, India is transitioning to a sustainable future in terms of transportation and the way we move and consume energy. We are con - fident that the government will continue to offer the additional support that is re - quired in the future, and we look forward to those initiatives, and being a market leader, we are open to supporting them in the journey. In March this year, Nexcharge in- stalled India’s first grid-connected Li- ion battery-based Community Energy Storage System (CESS) for Tata Pow- er DDL. Do you think there’s a need to spread more awareness about the benefits of CESS in India? How do you see various Discoms’ responses? S tefan L ouis : The concept of Community Energy Storage System (CESS) has orig - inated out of the need for T&D compa - nies battling with cash flows. This gives a sustainable business model with the proven economics established through this pilot. There is great traction for this solution with T&D companies. Also, it’s extremely crucial for the energy secu- rity of the country. We are also working on concepts to shift nearer towards the point of consumption with smaller sys - tems which can be deployed with indi - vidual ownership. This will surely be a way ahead for large ESS deployment in India. We expect this market to grow to 14 GWh by 2027 and 20 GWh by 2030. As per your estimate, what will be the market size, ability, and battery stor- age market in India in the next few years? S tefan L ouis : By 2030, the battery stor- age market in India will have a minimum size of 80 GWh and if we continue to have more optimistic scenarios, then the market can grow as big as 160 GWh. However, we feel that it will only come into play, if the government would create certain bands, for example, introducing ICE vehicles into densely populated cit - ies, just like many countries in Europe and Asia had done it. Given that cer - tain cities in India are ranked under the world’s heavily polluted cities, I believe we should follow the example, which will further, stimulate the growth of the lithium-ion battery storage market in the country. 18 energetica INDIA- May-June_2021