Battery storage is here

REPORT BY JMK Research in 2023 commented on the rise of grid-scale energy storage systems (ESS) via demand-driven tenders, and how this was becoming important for the grid integration of renewables.

- HIMRAJ DANG DEBMALYA SEN

The report, entitled Energy Storage: Connecting India to Clean Power on Demand, mentioned that 8 gigawatt (Gw) of tenders were awarded in 2023.

According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA, 2023), India would require at least 41.7 Gw/208 Gwh (gigawatt-hour) of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and 18.9 Gw of pumped hydro storage (PHS) in FY30.

We are writing this article to highlight the stellar progress made by storage in 2024, based on a report by Debmalya Sen entitled India: Utility-Scale Energy Storage Market. Not only were 178 megawatt-hour (Mwh) of battery storage projects commissioned, reflecting ESS market growth of 1.7x in 2024, but 32 tenders amounting to 67 Gwh were also floated in the year (as against 47 GWh in the previous five years).

As of December 2024, 114 GWh of ESS capacity tenders (82 in number) have already been publicised. This pipeline is split between PHS (91 Gwh) and BESS (20 GWh). ESS now amounts to 23% of the tendered capacity.

The market size is now expected to reach 250 Gwh of BESS capacity by 2032 (India Energy Storage Alliance), compared to a modest 0.36 Gwh operational in January. A further fillip to the market is expected from the recent directive for solar tenders to incorporate a minimum two-hour co-located ESS equivalent of 10% of the capacity.