The Indian energy storage market is finally starting to develop

India is finally seeing the emergence of an energy storage market at the network scale after years of anticipation.

This month, the Indian Solar Energy Corporation (SECI) has launched a tender for a 3.6 gigawatt-hour storage connected to 1.2 gigawatts of solar energy on the interstate transmission system of India, the biggest solicitation of batteries ever seen in the country.

The auction was launched in the wake of several other solicitations from SECI. Also this month, SECI has called for two 150 megawatt-hour battery systems to be connected to 100 megawatt solar parks in Andra Pradesh.

Last month, at the same time, SECI called for the installation of a 42-megawatt-hour battery system with 14 megawatts of solar power in Ladakh, in the north-east of l & # 39; India.

The company has also issued a call for tenders for the installation of a 20 megawatt floating photovoltaic power plant at Lakshadweep, an archipelago off the southwestern coast of India, with 60 megawatt hours of battery storage.

"These bid solicitations will boost energy storage deployments in the coming years," said Le Xu, Senior Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.

SECI's bid has been added to seven tenders for storage in the past year, the New Delhi-based badyst firm Bridge to India announced last month.

These offerings were launched by SECI and utilities NLC India and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), for a capacity of 84 megawatt hours connected to 78 megawatts of solar photovoltaic energy.

They were mainly intended for solar power plants in remote areas such as Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep and Himachal Pradesh, said Bridge to India. For many observers, it was time for the Indian energy storage market to get under way.

"India has been mbadively deploying its solar and wind energy since 2010, but the grid-wide energy storage market remains untapped," said Xu.

The first three calls for tenders

The country has launched calls for tenders for energy storage at the network scale since 2017. But, until recently, attempts to import large batteries in India were for the most part vain.

The first three large-scale energy storage bids, launched by SECI and NTPC with a total capacity of 35 megawatt hours, were canceled without explanation.

In 2017, SECI again tried to install a 28-megawatt-hour battery plant in Andaman and Nicobar Islands for NLC India. The NLC India project, scheduled for commissioning next April, has been widely qualified as the first energy storage facility for utilities in the country.

However, this honor probably belongs to a 10 megawatt joint venture of Mitsubishi and the US energy storage company AES, sponsored and operated by Tata Power Delhi Distribution.

The 10-megawatt-hour Advancion system was commissioned last month in New Delhi to stabilize the network, improve peak load management, increase system flexibility, improve reliability, and protect critical installations, a news release said. the Fluence battery supplier.

The recent rush to energy storage in renewable power plants is most likely a reaction to growing grid congestion as India seeks to place more and more solar and wind generation on power grids already. cracking.

India aims to install 175 gigawatts of solar and wind energy by 2022. The country will probably not be up to the task. However, even though badysts expect this to represent 76% of this figure, it will be a major achievement that will add to the network infrastructure.

Gigafactories battery

National elections in May this year are not expected to significantly change the outlook for renewable energy, Wood Mackenzie said. This could be expected to stimulate demand for energy storage, which is becoming more competitive as the cost of lithium-ion batteries decreases.

At the same time, Indian manufacturing companies are eager to gain a foothold in the rapidly growing battery market.

This month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet has approved a national mission on transformative mobility and battery storage, in which two phased manufacturing programs will be set up across the country.

The first of them will support the establishment of gigafactories of batteries throughout India, while the second will focus on the manufacture of electric vehicles.

This announcement took place shortly after the signing by the Economic Development Board of Andhra Pradesh and the company of solar panels and batteries manufacture of Urja Global of a protocol of agreement to manufacture lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles.

The initiative will allow Urja Global to invest £ 2 billion ($ 28.55 million) in manufacturing centers in Andhra Pradesh, Mercom India said.