Energetica India - June 2020

E nergetica I ndia : What opportunities do you see for renewable energy integra- tion to the grid post the national lock- down? Will it make way for a cleaner energy policy framework? A run S harma : Renewable energy holds the key to making the recovery post the pandemic sustainable. India’s climate promise of deploying 175 GW by 2022 is a step in the right direction and concert- ed efforts have been made by the gov- ernment to ensure the energy goals are met. As a project developer, we are bullish about the strong pipeline of green energy corridor projects envisaged by the Gov- ernment for grid integration/ evacuation of power from the upcoming RE capacity being developed across the various the country and in States to meet the 175 GW RE target by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030. In many countries, the renewable energy contribution in the generation pie has ex- ceeded that of conventional generation consistently during the COVID-19 situ - ation. Countries have now experienced that the grids are robust and can operate successfully with a higher proportion of RE. The cleaner air and water with low levels of pollution have boosted the re- solve and the drive towards greater RE deployment. The efforts should be doubled to in- crease RE capacity, and it should go hand in hand while preparing the grid for it to transmit these vast amounts of variable and intermittent injections of re- newable energy supply. Electricity grids, therefore, would have to be modernized across Indian states. Technological in- novations like uprate and upgrade of networks, system strengthening using cutting-edge technologies like MCMV towers, etc are transforming the energy delivery networks. As a leading player in the transmission sector, we not only build high-quality transmission infrastruc- ture assets but also provide end to end solutions for upgrading, uprating, and strengthening existing networks. We also feel there is a large requirement of grid integrated battery energy storage systems (BESS) to balance out grid in - termittency and demand management caused by the fast integration of RE en - ergy sources into the grid. Considering the steep price declines being witnessed in battery prices globally, it would best to select developers to set-up these grid-in- tegrated storage parks under an avail- ability-based, fixed-annuity, tolling-rev - enue model akin to the competitive framework prevalent in transmission. We are currently working with the state gov- ernment and utilities to help them identify immediate opportunities where storage could be economically beneficial and develop the business model framework. E nergetica I ndia : Sterlite Power has recently bagged key Green Energy Corridor projects. Please tell us more about it. energetica INDIA- June_2020 21 INTERVIEW