Energetica India Magazine - September 2022

Significance of Creating Financing Opportunities for Emerging Energy Storage Industry in India to Achieve Net Zero 52 energetica INDIA- September_2022 In India, energy storage with advanced battery storage is poised to play a ma- jor role in ensuring a stable, reliable power grid. And there’s nothing mys- terious about the private financing arrangements that will help get stor- age suppliers into the game. The mo- mentum driving India’s transition to clean energy is accelerating. Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s com- mitment at COP26 to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil fuel installed electricity capacity by 2030. The Paris Agreement outlines a tar- get of reducing emissions by 45% by 2030 and reaching net zero emission by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5°C. While projections indicate that the global GHG emission in 2030 will be still around twice as high as required to restrict the 1.5°C temperature rise. We need to take bold and urgent actions to mitigate the climate emergency before it reaches a tipping point. Energy (electricity, heat, and trans- port) accounts for over 73% of global GHG emissions. With increased focus on decarbonization, large-scale renew- able energy (RE) adoption is becoming a need rather than an option. Battery storage is emerging as an enabler for the adoption of intermittent renew- able energy. Even without a crystal ball, we can predict that Sustainable Battery Storage will play a key role in the energy transition. In a nutshell: • Energy Storage and Battery storage will play a critical role in supporting the wide-scale deployment of renew- able energy resources and reaching net-zero emissions in the near future. • Though the adoption of energy and battery storage is still considered na- scent in many regions, there are strong growth prospects, particularly in the countries moving towards deregulated energy markets with aggressive climate change reforms. • Lithium-ion has emerged as the leading technology, but other environ- ment-friendly technologies with differ- ent benefits are also evolving at a fast pace. • Energy investment and infrastructure companies are actively exploring the business cases for co-located battery storage to increase Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) asset utilization. • The foreseeable future of renewables is more hybrid rather than standalone solar and wind powered. According to the NITI Ayog, India will have a battery storage potential of 600 gigawatt hour (GWh) by 2030, and de- The Indian renewables financing market also needs to access domestic capital. There is a scope to raise domestic capital through rupee-denominated green bonds to expand the pool of financing for renewables. But it will only happen if the government, aca- demia, and the private sector—financial institutions, in particular—work together to deliver a decarbonized future. Omkar N Pandey CGO, Sanvaru Technology Limited STORAGE