In a big boost for the nation’s battery storage capacity, India is set to soon invite global bids for setting up projects totalling as much as 4,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of power storage capacity, reports Economic Times.
The announcement was made by Union Power Minister R K Singh on Thursday (16 September).
Addressing the US India Strategic Partnership Forum and the industry leaders during a virtual round table event for the energy industry on Thursday, Singh also said that 12 GW hours of battery storage capacity projects will be established in Ladakh in times to come.
This gains significance as it would help the Government’s stated ambition to have 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022 and 450 GW capacity by 2030. As per details shared by Singh, India presently has 100 GW installed solar and wind capacity and after adding hydro, the total installed renewable capacity is 146 MW. He further added that another 63 GW of capacity is presently under construction.
Singh also said that India would also be inviting bids for green hydrogen in the next three to four months with the goal of paving the way for viable usage of hydrogen as a fuel.
Singh said, “We have been working continuously to increase our pumped hydro storage capacity. The world needs to come up with more number of electrolysers, battery storage facilities, etc to bring economies of scale in these technologies and make these commercially viable.”