According to Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister Raj Kumar Singh, India aims to build a 14 gigawatt-hour (GWh) grid-scale battery storage system at the world’s largest renewable energy plant in Khavda (Kutch), Gujarat.
This comes on top of plans to accept bids for the world’s largest tender to build a 13GWh grid-scale battery storage system in Ladakh. India’s grid-scale battery storage initiative will become the world’s largest as a result of this strategic drive.
Because electricity is produced intermittently from clean energy sources such as solar and wind, large battery storage can help keep India’s power grids stable. A battery with a capacity of 1GWh (1,000-MWh) can power 1 million homes for an hour and 30,000 electric cars.
Mr. Singh stated, “The highest installed storage capacity in the world is a measly 400 MWh, but the first major bid that I am coming out with is 1,000 MWh two and a half times the largest capacity in the world. But that also is not sufficient. Only for my national grid-level operations, I will need 4,000 megawatt-hours.”
The government also intends to issue a request for proposals for the installation of a grid-scale battery storage system at regional load dispatch centers, with a capacity of roughly 4GWh. NTPC Ltd, a state-owned company, has also issued a global tender for the installation of a 1GWh grid-scale battery storage system.
“I am going to do it big because 1,000 megawatt-hour is a starter. Ultimately, it will go up to 4,000 MWh. Then in Leh-Ladakh, I am setting up 10,000MW of renewable energy capacity, so I am adding about 13,000 MWh of storage there. And then in Khavda again, about 10,000-15,000 MW of RE (renewable energy) capacity will come up, so I am going to add another about 13-14,000 megawatt-hour of storage there,” Mr. Singh further added.
The Khavda renewable energy park in Kutch, according to the government, will be the world’s largest and will eventually create 30GW of clean energy.
It will require a $1.5 trillion investment to cover 72,600 hectares. PM Mr. Narendra Modi lay the park’s foundation stone in December.
India intends to build solar and wind facilities on fallow land along its Pakistan border in Gujarat’s Kutch district and Rajasthan’s Bikaner, Barmer, and Jaisalmer districts.
India already has over 100 GW of solar and wind capacity installed, with another 63 GW under construction.
By 2022, the goal is to have 175 GW of renewable energy capacity, with 450 GW by 2030. This massive influx of electricity into the grid from sources like solar and wind necessitates a storage device that can help balance the national grid.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, grid-scale battery energy storage systems with a four-hour storage capacity will be required by 2030.
“So that’s the size I need to begin with. That’s for starters,” Singh added.
Reliance Industries Ltd, owned by Mukesh Ambani, has recently revealed intentions to build an innovative energy storage Giga plant. India recently announced an 18-billion-rupee production-linked incentive program for establishing a battery storage ecosystem, which includes the construction of a 55-gigawatt-hour manufacturing capacity for advanced chemical cell batteries.
“How do you bring the cost of storage down? By adding volume. That’s how the price of solar came down, how the price of wind came down,” Singh said.
The Ladakh plan calls for the construction of 10GW of massive green energy capacity in the strategic region, including solar and wind parks, as well as the storage of that electricity for distribution to the rest of the country.
According to research undertaken by the state-owned Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd, Ladakh, Thar, Rann of Kutch, Lahaul, and Spiti can create 315.7GW of solar and wind power over the next 30 years to 2050, requiring investments of 43.7 trillion.
“We have resources available with us. We have plentiful sun. We have plentiful wind. We will need storage, and we will get there,” Singh said.
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