Energetica India Magazine - September 2022

cial institutions, in particular—work together to deliver a de- carbonized future. None of these institutions can create that future unassisted, the problem is simply too big. Yet by work - ing together, we give ourselves the best possible chance of suc- cess. If we’re serious about decarbonizing the energy sector, storage has to play a role. But the current project finance ap - proach and treating storage purely as a generation asset isn’t necessarily going to get us there; we need to think differently, we need to think transformationally about the system.” Investment in Renewables and Storage The pandemic has led to an increased focus on sustainability. Embedding ESG factors in the capital market has become a trend. As the levelized costs of solar and wind energy (LCOE) have dropped significantly in the past few years, investors are bullish on renewable energy project investments. As per the latest Bloomberg NEF report, renewable energy investment has increased to 11% YoY in 1H 2022 amounting to $226 billion net investment with a large part of it driven by the Asia Pacific. A noteworthy increase in investments by venture capital and private equity funds has also been ob- served in recent times. Source: BNEF It is predicted that the global energy storage market to 2030 can have 30% compounded annual growth (CAGR). While energy storage is still considered a nascent market in many countries, equity investors are actively consider- ing Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) investment opportunities with strong revenue streams and returns. Way Forward Sustainable and climate-friendly in- vestments have become major drivers for both institutional and retail inves- tors across the globe. For new power generation assets, renewables have dominated investment and are expect- ed to account for over 80% of expen - diture on all new generation capacity. To smoothen the variability of renew- able generation assets, co-location of battery energy storage would be cru- cial. In recent times, lithium-ion bat- teries will remain the dominant and cost optimum option to enable further renewable-power integration into our grids. Several other promising solid states, Flow and other battery technol- ogies with new chemistries along with hydrogen will become a viable alterna- tives in the next few years. Investment in grid-scale battery en- ergy storage will continue to have strong growth prospects. However, some of the headwinds are uncertain- ties around consistent revenue streams, policies/regulatory reforms in key ener - gy markets, concerns on battery safe- ty, raw material mining practices, and end-of-life disposal. energetica INDIA- September_2022 55 STORAGE