After introducing bids for battery energy storage systems (BESS) and pumped storage projects (PSPs), the Union government now plans to explore green ammonia-based energy storage systems by floating a technology-agnostic tender.
"If we have to achieve Net Zero by 2070, we need round-the-clock renewable energy for which energy storage is essential. Soon we are going to invite bids for using green ammonia as storage. If that works, India's dependence on lithium-ion batteries for energy storage will be reduced," Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, RK Singh, said at an event organised by ReNew on August 22.
With the government kicking off its ambitious National Green Hydrogen Mission, the production of green ammonia is going to pick up within the next two to three years. Green ammonia is a derivative of green hydrogen, both of which are called "green" when they are produced purely with renewable energy as electricity. At present, ammonia is primarily used in fertilisers not just in India but also across the world.
The government has so far invited bids for battery storage (BESS) and pumped hydro storage projects. While the cost of BESS remains the highest at Rs 10 per kWh, the cost of pumped hydro has now come down from about Rs 8 to about Rs 5 kWh. A tender for green ammonia to be used for energy storage will be a first in India.
The government is going to simultaneously promote multiple forms of energy storage systems as the country needs storage systems on a large scale due to India's ambitious target of having an installed renewable energy capacity of 500 gigawatt (GW) by 2030.
Energy storage is required because renewable energy is intermittent. Solar energy contributes nearly 40,000 MW (40GW) to India's energy mix during the daytime and by night all of it is gone due to lack of storage. Similarly, wind energy is also highly intermittent and is still unpredictable in India due to a lack of upgraded weather-predicting technology.
According to a November 2020 publication by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, ammonia represents a promising solution for long-term large-scale energy storage.
"Out of all the currently available types of energy storage solutions, only some electrochemical, mechanical, and chemical options allow for the preservation of energy for periods exceeding weeks and months. Despite possessing impressive volume and duration characteristics, mechanical energy storage solutions (such as pumped hydro and compressed air) are less attractive than electrochemical (li-ion and flow batteries) or chemical storage (natural gas, hydrogen, and ammonia) when transportation of stored energy is needed," read the study.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
