Policy Incentives are Crucial for Energy Storage in India: IESA

The India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) has emphasised the importance of policy incentives, business leadership, skilled workforce, and inter-industry collaboration to make India self-reliant in the energy storage space.

During a conference on the occasion of the 4th World Energy Storage Day on September 22, 2020, IESA also highlighted the huge employment opportunity presented by India’s energy storage space.

IESA President Rahul Walawalkar said “India presents a significant opportunity for stationary energy storage technologies. In the next 5 years, we are entering into an unprecedented area, where thermal plants will have to pay down 30 percent which is not an ideal situation. At the same time, we do expect that the market for electric vehicles is set to pick up beyond 2022-24. We are coming up with a new report on e-mobility.”

He noted that due to persistent efforts by various ministries in the last five years, energy storage has picked up rapidly and the technology advancements have also been accelerated.

“We must focus on building capacity for integrating existing projects and making India a global hub of innovation and R&D. We urge the Indian business leaders to take a lead in terms of investing in the future.

“As the event highlighted, there is also a need for the right policy and regulatory support, beyond announcements. These initiatives will boost the local ecosystem, make India a self-reliant economy for energy storage, and become the global benchmark,” he said.

Noting that energy security and sufficiency are pivotal for self-reliant India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter to IESA, said “we are constantly striving to ensure that electricity reaches everyone, there is sufficient electricity for everyone, and that our environment remains clean. We are also making sure that our resolve towards clean and renewable energy is taken care of in every aspect of life.

“For energy access and energy sustainability, the government is focused on building a robust storage capability in the country.”