SECI extends cooperation on utility-scale energy storage project, invites tenders to combine Solar & Wind Hybrid Project

By Saur News Bureau/ Updated On Wed, Mar 9th, 2016

SECI Solar

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has extended interest on India’s first utility-scale energy storage project. The ambitious project is projected to be combined with a solar and wind hybrid project at Rangreek (Himachal Pradesh). The invited tender is for the design, procurement, construction, commissioning and associated transmission system for 2MW of grid-connected solar and a 0.5MW wind hybrid project with 1MWh of energy storage.

The tender also includes five years of operations and maintenance work at the site in Lahaul and Spiti district.

Isabella Ni, senior analyst, solar and storage research, at analyst firm IHS, said it had no records of any other grid-connected energy storage systems using electro-chemical batteries attached to a megawatt-scale solar system in India to date.

She said there is strong potential for grid-connected energy storage in India because of its well-touted renewable energy ambitions of 175GW by 2022, however, project financing is a “big challenge”.

Ni said that while solar tariffs in India are extremely low, the inclusion of energy storage will increase the upfront costs of the system – adding: “It is not really economical for developers to [include] energy storage at this moment.”

While decreased system costs and favourable policy from prime minister Narendra Modi’s government may help energy storage in India in the future, there is “no clear policy or incentive” for the energy storage industry at present, said Ni.

The solar power policy has attracted huge amounts of foreign investment over the last year, but this has not been the case for storage.

However, in a boon for energy storage in India Iast month, it was revealed that SECI will also be floating a tender for PV capacity within the 750MW Ananthapurama Solar Park in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, including energy storage capacity, which will be part the technical requirements of the bidding.