The Centre looks likely to mandate renewable energy projects with more than 5 megawatt (MW) capacity to install energy storage systems (ESS).
In its recently released national framework for promoting energy storage systems, the ministry of power said such ESS capacity may be considered during the bidding stage itself and can either be collated with the renewable energy project or integrated with any other storage located elsewhere.
“In order to ensure adequate storage capacity to supply reliable power, new RE (renewable energy) projects (excluding hydro projects) with an installed capacity of over 5MW or as specified by the central government may be mandated to install ESS (of at least 1-hour storage) for minimum 5% of the RE capacity,” it said.
The ministry said more steps are required to be taken at the policy and regulatory levels for ensuring an enabling ecosystem for storage systems, which are either under active consideration or may be considered later.
The proposal gains significance as it would bring under its ambit almost all utility-scale green energy projects given that the capacity bid out is mostly much higher than 5MW.
The ministry also suggested that hydro projects be encouraged to have minimum pondage (small water storage) capacity to manage variability and peak demand.
In renewable energy projects operating in off-grid mode, it said the storage capacity could be enhanced keeping in view the seasonal variation of renewable energy and demand.
The framework also said that in order to promote the development of energy storage systems, connectivity to the nearest inter-state transmission system (ISTS) should be granted on a priority. Connectivity to the intra-state transmission and distribution system may be facilitated by the respective state commission and state transmission utility.
It also said the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the Central Transmission Utility of India (CTU) may include ESS while planning the ISTS system.
With an ambitious target of 500GW installed renewable energy capacity by 2030, movement on both the policy and investment fronts has gained momentum as storage systems would be key for grid stability along with storing the additional green energy produced during a particular time.
The Centre has already released guidelines for tariff-based competitive bidding process for procurement of round-the-clock (RTC) power from grid-connected renewable energy power projects, complemented by power from many other sources or storage. Under these guidelines, power from storage can be utilized to balance renewable energy and provide RTC power to the power distribution companies, thereby facilitating the state load despatch centres in ensuring grid stability and security within their control jurisdiction.
Source: PTI
