Energetica India Magazine: september 2020

management and frequency regulation and to acknowledge the balancing effects of Energy Storage, 22nd September was chosen as an apt date for the World Energy Storage Day. In your view, which energy storage technologies will lead the future of clean energy? Why? D r R ahul : India has a huge market for conventional technolo- gies like lead acid and is also exporting lead to other SAARC & MENA countries. More than 800+ small and medium com- panies are manufacturing lead acid batteries (VRLA and GEL) in India. But with high competition in battery price and raw materials, most of the companies are eying for advance technologies. With high life cycle, high efficiency and stiff price reduction, Li-Ion is giving a tough competition to current lead acid technologies. So, there is an improvement in technology happening across the globe. Bipolar technology and carbon foam content are increasingly adopted by Lead acid manufac- turers in China, UK, USA, and other markets. How do you see the road ahead for India towards build- ing a self-reliant economy for energy storage? Can India become a manufacturing hub for storage and compete globally with cheaper Chinese products unlike the case for solar? D r R ahul : India has recently gained stature as one of the fast- est-growing markets for advanced energy storage technology supporting the exponential growth expected in its electric ve- hicle market over the next 5 years. India Energy Storage Alli- ance (IESA) has estimated the India Stationary Energy Stor- age market potential to be around 230 GWh during the period 2020-2027. Of which grid scale applications contribution is expected to be 15% and rest by behind-the-meter applica- tions. In grid scale sector, renewable energy integration takes up majority of this share, split between solar and wind projects. India is expected to attract investment in two-to-four Giga fac- tories for advanced Li-ion batteries, attracting over $3 billion in investments in the next 3 years. The battery pack manufactur- ers in India are currently assembling high capacity packs with the goal to target electric vehicles and stationary storage mar- ket. Assembling of Li-ion battery packs is a dynamic industry in India and is growing at a healthy pace. At IESA, we, howev- er, believe that it is high time for the Indian industry to take up R&D and advanced cell manufacturing so that we reduce our dependence on other countries. The recent pandemic related to COVID19 has highlighted the importance of domestic man- ufacturing considering the risk of global supply chain disrup- tions. Energy storage and EVs have importance for national energy security and we should learn from the recent events and accelerate our efforts for building domestic capabilities. In order to provide boost for energy storage in the country, what will be your key suggestions to the policy makers? D r R ahul : Various Indian companies have already entered the cell to Pack assembling. But there is a huge opportunity in In- energetica INDIA- September_2020 15 INTERVIEW dia for Li-Ion cell manufacturing. There are some discussions happening in the industry on raw materials availability. Last year, India also signed a MoU with Bolivia for the development and industrial use of lithium to faster the R&D and exploration of raw materials. Apart from Li-Ion technology India should look into other technologies like flow batteries, sodium-based batteries, Zinc-Air, Aluminium Air and other emerging technol- ogies. We hope that with NITI Aayog’s National Mission for Advanced Chemistry Cell Manufacturing for advanced Energy Storage technologies and as well as National Mission on Transforma- tive Mobility and Battery Storage and Phased Manufacturing Program there are prosperous ecosystem for energy storage industry. Without cheaper better energy storage technologies, how do you see the future of electric vehicles in India? Will EVs become an attractive option for the mass adoption? What will be your suggestions on making storage cheaper? D r R ahul : The cost of storage over time has fallen 85 per cent, what started off at more than a 1,000 $/kWh in 2010, is today in the range of 150-170 $/kWh. What made this exponential decrease in price happen is the rapid technological improve- ment that happened for storage. Not only lithium ion but also other technologies like redox flow, fuel cells, compressed air, pumped hydro, all saw marked improvement in efficiency, cycle life and price when compared to the beginning of the decade. One area where battery deployment got a major push is vehi- cle electrification. India has been susceptible to dynamics of petrol/ diesel prices and pollution has been a rising concern across many cities in India. Thus, Electric vehicles come as a nice alternative which is both cleaner and more economic on the longer run. In India, the first movers came in forms of 2 and 3 wheelers, which anyways make up the maximum of the automotive market. E-buses, though less in number, as on date have been seen increasingly in number on Indian roads. The price differential between an ICE and EV has been slow- ly narrowing down and with policy incentives and regulatory pushes, India is seen as a market with high potentials for EVs. Under its National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), the government is targeting to achieve 6-7 million sales of electric and hybrid vehicles in India by 2020. This was backed up with many State Governments coming up with their own EV policies and charging tariffs. The Government also relaxed the GST rates for batteries and provided incentives for purchase of EVs and on loan taken to buy an electric vehicle. The point to ap- preciate here is though there are complains of the transition and steps being taken often being delayed and non-confirma - tive, the transition has come a long way, who would have imag- ined that this change will happen in so fast a time span. When we look at the automobile industry today, we see so many ICE manufacturers now coming up with EV models which show clearly that EV is the next big thing.