Energy storage segment to grow at 10%
Hyderabad: The India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), launched by Customized Energy Solutions (CES), has set a vision to make India a global leader in energy storage, electric vehicle, microgrids technology adoption and hub for manufacturing of these emerging technologies by 2022. The current size of the energy storage segment in India is estimated at over 15 GWh which is expected to grow by 8 per cent to 10 per cent year on year.
Dr Rahul Walawalkar, executive director, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), told Telangana Today, “IESA has received the chairmanship of Global Energy Storage Alliance, which was founded in 2014. With this India currently has the leadership of global alliances in Solar, Smart Grid and Energy Storage, showing the growing importance of India in the global energy sector.”
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) constituted an expert committee in February 2018 to draft the National Energy Storage Mission (NESM) to provide the policy framework necessary for industry.
“I was part of the expert committee representing IESA to draft the NESM which is a major achievement not only for us but also for the industry. The NESM draft is currently awaiting final approval from Cabinet and PMO, and is expected to get announced anytime soon.”
IESA also has bought lead voices together to advocate for GST cut for energy storage in India which is now 18 per cent down from 28 per cent. IESA had sent several letters to GST council earlier on this reduction and also met the concerned ministry officials on different occasions. The further reduction of GST to 5 per cent (similar to solar components) or to 12 per cent (similar to the electric vehicle) is essential to boost the energy storage adoption in India, Walawalkar noted.
Industry interface
On efforts to bring industry and energy solutions providers to on platform, he said, “We have organised Energy Storage Solutions meet in Coimbatore and Pune for fast-tracking behind the meter adoption of advanced energy storage technologies. The meet was attended by over 80 large commercial and industrial consumers as well as over 50 IESA member companies who are actively looking to provide solutions for these customers. The objective behind this meet was to provide appropriate energy storage solutions for commercial and industrial consumers. Our two days electric vehicle conclave along with International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) successfully addressed the key challenges in EV policy, battery technology and charging infrastructure.”
IESA also hosted the second edition of India’s Energy Storage Policy Forum on the eve of World Energy Storage Day which was focused on policy issues related to grid and off-grid applications to support renewable development, energy storage for EVs and charging infrastructure as well as R&D and manufacturing ecosystem in India.
“We expect the new year to be a year of action than mere discussions, alternate explorations and promises. Consumers need large level of awareness and must realise the long lasting positive effects and accept & adopt alternative energy solutions. Strong demand is an encouraging factor for the industry to deliver quickly. Government and Industry together can develop a favourable investment scenario to build storage system for dependable energy distribution,” he added.
Energy storage is a key component and there is a number of ways in which EV adoption could be transformative for the grid. With better tariff structures and the use of right storage technologies in EVs, we could also use EVs as distributed storage and provide grid balancing services.
Source: Telangana Today
