Energetica India Magazine October-November 2021

RENEWABLE POWER 39 energetica INDIA- Oct-Nov_2021 last few years due to suitability in various applications in electronic devices and electric vehicles. Nevertheless, there is benefit in exploring various storage tech - nologies beyond Lithium ion. This could include green hydrogen storage, solar thermal, redox battery solutions, and gravity storage. In India the hydrogen energy market is expected to increase with 6.3% CAGR from 2018 to 2025 9 . The share of hydro- gen in the energy market is increasing with the implementation of fuel cell sys- tems. Surplus RE power can be utilized to produce green hydrogen which in turn can be used for multiple applications. Currently, there is no operational grid scale battery storage plant or hydrogen storage facility in Tamil Nadu. This is cer- tainly an area that needs focus, especial- ly with the state’s plans to increase RE capacities. Way Forward We do realize that there are barriers to the adoption of these new technologies. Most of the high-efficiency technologies are at the early stages of research and lack maturity. A working paper from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), shows 10 integrating new and matured technologies such as green hy- drogen, offshore wind, and energy stor- age along with hybrid RE systems could help in augmenting renewable resourc- es. Given Tamil Nadu’s large untapped renewable resources potential, such in- tegrations could be attempted. For this to happen, cross learnings from success stories and case studies glob- 1. Lidar, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.The lidar unit collects a range of measurements, including the critical offshore wind data 2. https://mnre.gov.in/wind/current-status/ 3. https://dmk.in/dmk-manifesto-english-2021 4. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/tamil-nadu-plans-23-000-mw-renewable-3-000-gas-projects-over-10-years-121090601252_1.html 5. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/tn-well-placed-for-clean-energy-transition/article34783100.ece 6. https://niwe.res.in/assets/Docu/India ’s_Wind_Potential_Atlas_at_120m_agl.pdf 7. https://mnre.gov.in/solar/current-status/ 8. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01985-y 9. https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/india-hydrogen-market# :~:text=The%20India%20hydrogen%20market%20was,industry%20to%20refine%20crude%20oil 10. https://www.irena.org/publications/2017/Jun/Accelerating-the-Energy-Transition-through-Innovation Image credit :- www.freepik.com ally through effective industry-academia collaborations are required. For niche applications especially for already es- tablished markets, policy planners should work with Industries to identify the gap and address them. Tamil Nadu’s demographic advantage with a young workforce could also be leveraged to impart skills in specific technologies at the local and the state level. Setting up local manufacturing capabilities and skill development could help in increasing operational efficiency. Enabling policies should be holistic by integrating new technologies with re- newable capacity addition plans. For seamless implementation, execution and timely deployment is essential where roles of stakeholders are defined based on the type of technology, market readiness, innovation, and target sec- tors (commercial, industrial, transport, etc). This would require a concerted and coordinated effort between utilities, industry players, especially start-ups, research bodies, and renewable devel- opment agencies. In the early stages of technology devel- opment, it is advisable to have a forum, which brings government, business, and private sector together. They must enable “market push” to move to “mar- ket pull”. Finally, utilities and policy makers must look at scientific frameworks to arrive at realistic integrated solutions for these complex energy problems. New technol- ogies must be part of the solution rath- er than being completely new systems. This would allow for their full potential to be realized.