Government to make battery storage a must for renewable projects

Currently, 12 GW of battery energy storage systems by Central PSUs and private developers is under construction in India.

The government is set to make battery storage capacity a must for upcoming solar and wind power plants, Prashant Kumar Singh, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), has said.

Moneycontrol was the first to report on the Centre’s plan to make battery storage mandatory for upcoming renewable energy projects.

"Looking at the declining battery prices, we are planning to start with a small quantum of compulsory battery storage in the solar plant or wind plant and gradually scale it up,” Singh said at the Global MSME Business Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on December 16.

“We may start with a mandate of, say, 10 percent. Then we shall give a trajectory increasing this percentage over the years, depending on price as the price keeps coming down.” It may come down to 30-40 percent as well.

“The point here is there is immediately a requirement to set up extra capacity with battery storage where transmission line is there but used only for seven-eight hours,” Singh said.

Also read: Centre to launch PLI scheme for power transmission sector by end of FY25

The official said the norms will be released “very soon.” The rates discovered in the recent tenders for solar, wind and battery together are getting better than that for a coal non-pithead plant. "It’s come down to that level. Now, with falling battery prices, it makes a lot of sense to go ahead and henceforth not have any (plain) vanilla solar or (plain) vanilla wind project," he said.

The problem with renewable energy is that it is intermittent. Unlike thermal and most other power generation facilities, renewable energy typically does not have a steady output since, for example, solar power generation is impossible at night, and wind power depends on prevailing weather conditions.

Also Read: Centre seeks inclusion of battery energy storage systems in solar tenders.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) store surplus energy generated during periods of peak production and releasing it during periods of low generation. It helps balance the grid and enhance reliability.

The cabinet on September 6, 2023 approved a viability gap funding of Rs 3,760 crore for building BESS with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatt hours (MWh).

To ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach consumers, a minimum 85 percent of the BESS project capacity is being made available to distribution companies for distributed BESS. This will not only enhance the integration of renewable energy into the electricity grid but also minimise wastage while optimising the utilisation of transmission networks. Consequently, this will reduce the need for costly infrastructure upgrade.