India Could Establish Itself As A Leader For The Region In Energy Storage

US energy storage major AES Corporation recently installed India’s first grid scale energy storage unit with Tata Power. Andrés Gluski, President and CEO of this Fortune 500 company, talks to Business Today’s Anilesh S. Mahajan about the global energy storage market and how India – with its ambitious solar energy and electric vehicle plans – can gain from the latest trends.

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US energy storage major AES Corporation recently installed India’s first grid scale energy storage unit with Tata Power. Andrés Gluski, President and CEO of this Fortune 500 company, talks to Business Today’s Anilesh S. Mahajan about the global energy storage market and how India – with its ambitious solar energy and electric vehicle plans – can gain from the latest trends. Edited excerpts:

Help us understand the trajectory of the energy storage space. In India, we are looking for solutions which can be scaled up quickly, and in the entire conversation there is a price point, too.

A. The time for the energy storage technology has come. The price is a critical part of this equation across the world. In the last five years, it has come down by about 70 per cent and, with this, we are already seeing the market taking off. Globally, five years ago, a total of 200 MW energy storage (grid connected) was installed. Last year, the figure reached 4 GW. This is a factor of 20. Some markets are much more advanced and some are laggards, but there is no dispute that this technology is fundamental to the grid of the future.