During last 1 year, policy makers in India have taken concrete steps for advancing integration of energy storage and microgrids for various applications in India. IESA has worked closely with various stakeholders at state and national level to achieve this change. These efforts have included:
Hosting of Energy Storage India, 1st international conference on energy storage and microgrids in India in December 2013.
Participation in National taskforce on Renewable Integration for Ministry of Power & Central Electricity Authority
Leading the working group on “Renewable integration, energy storage and Microgrids” for Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission under Smart Grid Co-ordination Committee.
Providing training for utility officials and regulators on latest developments related storage through “CEA-India Smart Grid Forum Regional Workshops on Smart Grid”
Participating in the standing committee on energy storage and hybrids for Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
Working with Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) for facilitate integration of energy storage in smart grid and green corridor projects being developed by PGCIL.
Developing a research paper on “Need for Ancillary Services in India and role of energy storage technologies in providing these services” in collaboration with Shakti Foundation
These efforts have resulted in series of initiatives that will open up the opportunities for energy storage deployments in India. The latest in this series is the announcement of “Expression of Interest for Energy Storage Demonstration Projects for Supporting Renewable Generation” by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has identified high potential application areas. Looking at the increasing importance of energy storage for integrating renewable energy, the MNRE propose to support demonstration projects for energy storage to assess feasibility of energy storage technologies for small scale and grid connected MW scale renewable energy applications. The demonstration project are expected to help in acquiring the desired technical knowledge, economic & market assessment and insights on the approaches for shaping up a focused programme in this key area. These demonstration projects are expected to generate awareness amongst users, about the economic benefit of energy storage technologies. These will also help in developing innovative approaches to finance energy storage technologies and also develop capacity to test and verify performance.
MNRE is looking to support demonstrations of energy storage technologies in each of the following categories:
- Integrating large-scale wind and solar generation into the transmission grids.
- Rural Micro Grids
- Micro grids in commercial, industrial, residential, defense or other applications
- Large scale standalone systems
IESA is seeking inputs from all members as part of the stake holder consultation requested by MNRE and encourage all interested parties to actively support this exciting initiative by MNRE.
Details of each of these opportunities is available in the “member’s Section” at www.indiaesa.info
