03/02/2021 - Infrastructure

KEY POINTS

·        India’s policy planning with respect to electricity has been concerned primarily with generation. India reached its initial goal of 20 gigawatts (GW) of solar power generation four years ahead of schedule.

·        India’s renewable capacity has quadrupled in the last 20 years. In contrast, transmission lines have only doubled during that period.

·        India needs to add energy storage to its policy planning tools for electricity.

·        The basic idea in storage is a simple concept in physics. Convert the energy into a different (storable) form and reconvert it when it needs to be used.

Methods for storage

1) Use renewable energy to compress air and store the compressed air in large natural caverns;

2) Build large scale battery parks to store electricity until it can be time-transferred to the grid;

3) Store energy in a giant flywheel; and

4) Use a two-stage pumped hydro-power system.

·        As of now, the compressed air and battery park solutions are cost- prohibitive for large-scale storage of electricity.

·        Battery design should be robust, allowing for a different holding period for energy (than, say, for a car or mobile phone) and a very different discharge cycle.

·        Pumped hydro-electric energy storage systems (PHESs) have been in use around the world for the last three decades and are making a comeback, particularly in China.

Measures needed

·        India’s evolving policy should incentivize investment in storage and transmission and focus also on mitigation of transmission and distribution losses.

·        Research and development in new battery technologies and pilot projects using other technologies should be undertaken.

·        Tariff structures will need to be revised and modernized at both the central and state levels, particularly through state electricity commissions.

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