Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

NEWS ENERGY UPDATES PGCIL Fully Commissions India’s first VSC-based HVDC System ReNew Power Partners with Precourt Energy Insti- tute’s ‘StorageX Initiative’ for New ESS Tech Devel- opment State-run Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has commissioned Monopole-I of the ± 320 kV, 2000 MW, Pugalur– Thrissur Voltage Source Con- vertor (VSC) based High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) System. This Project strengthens the power sys- tem of Southern Region of our country. In February 2021, Monopole-II of the proj- ect was inaugurated by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and with the commis- sioning of Monopole-I, the project has attained its full capacity. The Rs 5,070 crore Pugalur (Tamil Na- du)-Thrissur (Kerala) HVDC system is a part of the Raigarh-Pugalur-Thrissur 6000 MW HVDC system and enables transfer of 2000 MW to Kerala through the VSC HVDC station at Thrissur. The state-of-the-art VSC Technology has been brought to India for the first time by PGCIL through this Project. The VSC technology significantly reduc - es the land requirement compared to the conventional HVDC systems and is par- ticularly suitable for areas, where land is scarce. It also facilitates development of smart grid and improves system resilience under various operating conditions. A unique feature of this project is the com- bination of overhead line and under- ground cable to address the restricted availability of transmission corridor in Kerala. Major HVDC equipment like interface transformers and IGBT-based power convertors, AC equipment such as Gas Insulated Sub-station, switchgear, con- trols and relay panels have been sup- plied by factories in India, thereby giv- ing a major boost to the Prime Minister’s Make in India program. Meanwhile, a significant part of the de - sign, engineering, testing and commis- sioning for this VSC project has been done in India, aligned to the Prime Minis- ter’s vision of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. ReNew Power announced a collabora- tion agreement with the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University and its StorageX Initiative (StorageX). StorageX is an academic-industry-gov- ernment initiative that aims to solve the most pressing real-world challenges in battery storage. ReNew’s collaboration with StorageX will focus initially on challenges surround- ing grid level battery usage and per- formance in India, with an eye toward optimizing the performance of storage assets, and ultimately driving stable and firm power delivery to the grid. The company will participate in StorageX through the Stanford Energy Corporate Affiliate (SECA) program, which facili - tates interactions between organizations and Stanford faculty and graduate stu- dents across the full range of energy-re- lated topics. Through its membership in the SECA program, ReNew will have access to world-class research and opportunities for collaboration on research, education and training. Speaking about the affiliation, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew Power, Sumant Sinha said, “ReNew is proud to work with Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy in ensuring that economical and efficient energy storage technologies become critical in reducing the intermit- tency of renewable power in countries around the world.” 57 energetica INDIA- May-June_2021