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India Energy Storage

Storage-backed 50 MW Solar Capacity Planned For India’s Andaman & Nicobar Islands

written by saurabh

The Indian government is looking to boost solar power in the remotest parts of the country, and in this endeavour an agreement has been signed for installation of a number of solar power projects in the islands of Andaman and Nicobar.

India’s largest power producer, NTPC Limited, has signed agreements with the administration of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy at the central government to set up solar power capacity of 50 MW across the islands.

The solar power projects will be set up at various locations across the capital Port Blair and will also be equipped with storage equipment. The solar power projects would prove a boon to the islands which are significantly dependent on fuel import from the mainland.

Setting up solar power projects at the islands is essential as they cannot be connected to the dedicated power transmission network being set for delivering power generated from large-scale renewable energy projects across the Indian states; the islands are thousands of kilometres away from mainland India.

The projects shall also be real test of India’s new energy storage program, which the government intends to integrate with its ambitious plan to set up ultra mega solar power projects of up to 4 GW capacity each.

10/24/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India Issues 200 MW Solar Power Storage Tender

written by saurabh

India has issued its second solar power storage tender as it looks to expand its capabilities to efficiently absorb the rapidly increasing solar power capacity in the existing grid.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) issued tender to set up 200 MW solar power capacity along with storage facility. The power generation capacity shall come up in Karnataka’s Pavagada solar power park. Projects will be auctioned in the size of 50 MW each with each project having storage capacity of 2.5 MWh.

Pavagada solar power park is among around 25 solar power parks approved by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The planned capacity of the solar power park is 5 GW which would make it among the largest power projects in India.

NTPC Limited has already auctioned 500 MW capacity for the solar park. The capacity was allocated to six developers who are free to choose Indian or imported solar power modules for their projects. Adani Power, Tata Power Renewable Energy and Fortum India secured 100 MW capacity each at tariff of Rs 4.79/kWh (US¢7.9/kWh).

More capacity is expected to be auctioned soon by NTPC Limited as well as SECI.

This new tender comes only days after SECI issued the first solar power storage tender of 100 MW capacity for the 1 GW Kadapa solar power park in Andhra Pradesh.

08/31/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Solar Energy Corp Of India Issues 100 MW Solar Energy Storage Tender

written by saurabh

The Solar Energy Corporation of India has issued among the first tenders for solar power projects with storage capacity.

A tender for 100 MW storage capacity for a large solar power park has been issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The storage will be part of the 1 GW Kadapa solar power park approved under the central government’s plan to setup around 25 GW of ultra mega solar power projects across the country.

Last month, media outlets had reported that SECI will auction an additional 200 MW storage capacity linked with large-scale solar power park in Karnataka. Theses auctions are part of an overall strategy to seamlessly integrate renewable energy projects into the existing power grid.

Earlier this year, Indian newspapers also reported that the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy was considering to launch a National Mission on Energy Storage. No details of the said mission are currently available, however.

International companies are already planning to bid for the impending tenders. Chinese battery maker BYD and Canada-based project developer SkyPower Global entered an agreement to bid for solar power projects in India soon after the news of 100 MW storage tender for Andhra Pradesh solar power park was reported.

08/27/2016 0 comment

Articles Renewable Energy

BYD, SkyPower Join Hands For India Solar Energy Storage Bid

written by saurabh

Global project developers are vying for a landmark solar power tender planned in India that shall also include, for the first time, energy storage solutions as well.

Chinese battery maker BYD and Canada-based project developer SkyPower Global have entered an agreement to bid for solar power projects in India. While the two companies have not categorically stated which tender they shall be jointly bidding for but media reports suggest that it could be the 750 MW tender for 1.5 GW Ananthapuram solar power park in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India, earlier this year, announced that a 750 MW tender for the Ananthapuram solar power shall be launched. The tender shall also include installation of 100 MW of energy storage capacity.

The first phase of the solar power consists of 250 MW. Of this, 200 MW was commissioned few weeks back while the balance 50 MW is expected to the commissioned by October 2016. An additional capacity of 500 MW for the project had also been earmarked at a different location.

This will be the first large-scale implementation of battery-based energy storage technology in India. This experiment will be extremely critical for the broad-based adoption of renewable energy in India. The country aims to have 175 GW of operational renewable energy capacity by March 2022.

Existing transmission infrastructure is nowhere close to capable of handling such massive capacity of intermittent power source. Thus, the success of battery-based energy storage will be crucial. Another problem with the Indian solar power programme is that it had given up on solar thermal power projects where energy storage is a tried and tested concept. The programme is overwhelming dependent on solar photovoltaic projects.

05/24/2016 0 comment