TERI Convenes High-Level Stakeholder Consultation on CSP-TES for Firm Dispatchable Renewable Energy

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has convened a high-level stakeholder discussion on ‘Firm Dispatchable Renewable Energy for Viksit Bharat: The Role of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Technologies with Thermal Energy Storage (TES)’ at  the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

The stakeholder consultation brought together policymakers, developers, industry leaders, utilities, financial institutions and technology providers to deliberate on the growing need for Firm Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE) solutions as India advances its clean energy transition. 

Participants in the consultation included: Deepak Gupta, Former Secretary, MNRE, Government of India; Alok Kumar, Former Secretary, Ministry of Power and Director General, AIDA; Surbhi Goyal, Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank; Sivakumar V. Vepakomma, Director (Power Systems), Solar SECI; D. M. R. Panda, ED and CEO, APNHEL; Dr. Ishan Purohit, Program Specialist (STAR-C), International Solar Alliance (ISA); Dr. Arun Tripathi, Consultant, TERI and Former Director General, NISE, MNRE; Dr. Pankaj Kumar, National Project Coordinator, UNIDO; Subrahmanyam Pulipaka, CEO, NSEFI, Gurjeet Singh, Tech. Staff, Office of the Principal Scientific Advise; Shyamal Bhattacharjee, Former GM - NETRA; Dr. S. S. Chandel, Director, Centre of Excellence, Shoolini University; Mr. Shahid Sheikh, Rioglass;  Subrata Kundu, 247Solar and  Rohit Kedar, Manager, Business Development, Holtec India; Dr. C. Suresh Kumar, Empereal-KGDS Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd.; Dr. Mani Karthik, Scientist F, ARCI; Steve Bisset, CEO, Terrajoule Energy Inc., Shirish Uplenchwar, Business Development Director, Energy Dome, Rajan Varshney, DGM-NTPC.

The session was chaired by Deepak Gupta, and moderated by A. K. Saxena, Senior Director, ERD, TERI. The discussion highlighted the role of CSP integrated with Thermal Energy Storage (TES) as a potential pathway to complement solar photovoltaic systems and support India’s long-term decarbonization and energy reliability goals.

Delivering the welcome remarks, A.K. Saxena, Senior Director, TERI emphasized that India’s clean energy transition would increasingly depend on scalable renewable energy sources coupled with energy storage, capable of supplying round-the-clock dispatchable power.

Setting the context for the discussion, Ankit Gupta, Fellow, TERI, provided an overview of the present and evolving CSP and energy storage landscape in India. He underscored the potential of CSP with TES to contribute to India’s future energy mix by delivering FDRE, while outlining key opportunities and pathways for its deployment across suitable regions of the country. 

Highlighting the need to carefully assess the role of emerging renewable technologies in India’s evolving power system, Alok Kumar, Director General, AIDA and Former Secretary, Ministry of Power, stated, “India’s energy transition must now focus on flexible and reliable power systems rather than only firm power. While CSP with TES has potential, the technology still needs to be evaluated in terms of maturity, economics, future cost trajectory, operational feasibility and scalability.”

Sivakumar V. Vepakomma and D. M. R. Panda, mentioned that the CSP and TES solution appeared to be good a few years ago; however, the prices of BESS have come down significantly, the buyers’ interest in this technology today as compared to others is a key question. 

Dr. Arun Tripathi emphasized that the CSP technologies can scale in India with strong policy support and targeted pilot deployment. India should consider launching large-scale pilot tenders, to support technology demonstration, cost discovery, and market confidence.

Discussing the enabling ecosystem required for CSP deployment, Dr. Ishan Purohit, stated, “Reliable DNI assessment, suitable land identification, and targeted demonstration projects will be key to creating an enabling framework for CSP deployment in India.”

Surbhi Goyal, drawing from the experience of the World Bank funding for the Dubai project, expressed the need for proper assessment of cost and other challenges to avoid delay in project completion. She added that some of the components have not shown any downward cost trajectory over the years; the economies of scale, therefore, need to be closely assessed in detail. These considerations are extremely important from the funding point of view.

On the need for domestic manufacturing and localization, Pankaj Kumar, stated, “India already has proven technical capability in CSP technologies. The next step is to strengthen indigenization and manufacturing ecosystems while addressing practical deployment challenges such as water availability and site-specific operational considerations.”

Deepak Gupta highlighted the need for a structured national action plan for CSP and TES deployment. He stated, “While concerns around costs and cost reduction remain, India should move forward with initial CSP and TES tenders and demonstration projects. The priority should now be to define deployment pathways, project scale, off-take mechanisms, and the policy and financial support required. A dedicated stakeholder group should be formed to create a clear action plan.”

 A.K. Saxena concluded the session and stated, “Energy storage is critical for decarbonization of India’s power sector. Whereas, Pumped Storage Projects and BESS have gained traction, CSP with TES needs to be pursued in a focused manner. While CSP and TES have been discussed intermittently over the years, it is now important to examine their value proposition objectively. Beyond capital costs, and operational characteristics, the key consideration should be the value of flexibility and resilience it offers. As India has created an action plan for technologies such as pumped storage, there is merit in developing a plan/programme for CSP coupled with TES. Site-specific demonstration projects can not only discover the tariff competitively but also provide operational confidence for scaling up. Special purpose vehicles  can help in effective project implementation. The policy support for bridging the gap between the competitively discovered tariff and the tariff appropriate from the DISCOMs’ perspective would go a long way in providing comfort and confidence to all stakeholders. The deliberations bringing together the key stakeholders today would provide basis for developing actionable recommendations and implementation pathways for the technology,” 

Participants also discussed opportunities for hybrid renewable energy systems integrating solar PV, CSP, and storage solutions to deliver firm dispatchable renewable energy.