Status: cleared
Chennai: In the next two years, Tamil Nadu will have battery storage systems in six different places with a cumulative capacity to store and supply one million units (MU) of electricity in two cycles every day. The Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Ltd (TNGECL) has invited bids to store excess renewable energy and use the same when needed to meet the peak hour demand.
The battery systems, when completed, will be linked to different substations in Tirunelveli, Madurai, Trichy, and Karaikudi, where the specific substations import energy from renewable sources such as solar plants and windmills. Tamil Nadu has an installed capacity of nearly 19,000 MW of wind and solar energy, making battery storage a viable option.
The project will be implemented under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model with a total capacity of 500 MW with a two-hour discharge cycle, enabling the stored energy to be released as needed.
Since the fluctuations in solar and wind power generation have posed challenges in balancing supply and demand, the new battery storage system will help mitigate these issues by storing excess renewable energy during off-peak hours and discharging it when demand is high. This will reduce grid instability, prevent blackouts, and enhance the efficiency of Tamil Nadu’s clean energy network, an official said.
According to the tender document, bidders can choose to set up the battery storage system in multiples of 50 MW. For a 50 MW battery system, Tantransco will allocate 7,000 sqm of land to the winning bidder at an annual lease charge of Rs 1 per project per year.
The initiative is being developed through a tariff-based global competitive bidding process and will receive Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support from the central govt, covering up to 30% of the capital cost.
The Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) report on the optimal generation capacity mix for the year 2029-30, released in April 2023, envisages a total installed battery energy storage capacity of 41,650 MW as part of the installed capacity in 2029-30. This will be in addition to 18,986 MW of pumped hydro storage system envisaged to be a component of the installed capacity in 2029-30. MSID:: 118738560 413 |