It will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 223 per cent from 2020-2023, the report said.
New Delhi: India’s total wind-solar hybrid capacity is expected to reach 11.7 gigawatt (GW) by 2023, according to a recent report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and JMK Research.
“Based on the tenders allotted under various central and state schemes, we expect capacity addition of wind-solar hybrid projects to reach almost 11.7 GW in the next three years, and also that it will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 223 per cent from 2020-2023,” said the report titled ‘Wind-Solar Hybrid: India’s Next Wave of Renewable Energy Growth’.
It added that the total wind-solar hybrid capacity, which is at 148 megawatts (MW) at present, would increase by almost 80 times in the next three years, as the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and state governments provide incentives to promote new hybrid projects.
“SECI has taken the lead by regularly coming up with large tenders to scale up market growth,” said Vibhuti Garg, energy economist at IEEFA and Jyoti Gulia, founder of JMK Research.
SECI tenders for wind-solar hybrid projects without storage have attracted low tariffs of Rs 2.67 per kWh, which were comparable to plain solar tariffs, it added.
The government also plans to hold renewable energy auctions for round-the-clock and hybrid projects instead of plain solar or wind tenders.
“States can reserve a certain percentage of their renewable targets for wind-solar hybrid capacity, along with offering waivers and incentives designed to help grow the market,” it said.
Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan have come up with their wind-solar hybrid policies aligned with the National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy. Most of the solar and wind power potential is concentrated in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, the report added.
Methodology
The report uses a financial model to project tariffs trends for a 250 MW wind-solar hybrid project under different scenarios. It showed that when solar and wind were blended at a ratio of 80:20, the levelised tariff was Rs 2.49 per kilowatt hour (kWh), while a ratio of 50:50 resulted in a tariff of about Rs 2.57 per kWh.
However, it noted that when storage in the form of a two-hour battery back-up was added, the levelised tariff increased to Rs 4.59 per kWh.
“Clearly, adding battery storage is not a feasible option at present because it significantly increases project costs and hence the tariffs. However, rapidly falling battery prices will make such an addition to these projects viable within a few years, further strengthening grid stability and reliability,” the authors said.
Regarding issues faced by stakeholders, the report said that the developers were grappling with issues such as lower tariffs, policy uncertainty, land constraints, integration challenges, system sizing, and lack of experience. However, it added that as the sector matures, most of these issues could be addressed by putting in place more coherent policy and standards.
According to the report, wind-solar hybrid generation has potential to better manage the intermittency problem of standalone wind and solar and to make clean power more competitive against traditional thermal plants.
Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes
