India to call bids for battery storage system in Ladakh

WHY IN THE NEWS?

India will be calling for bids for the largest global tender for a 13 gigawatt-hours (GWh) grid-scale battery storage system in Ladakh Region.

What are Battery Storage Systems?

• Battery storage systems are devices that enable energy from renewables like solar and wind to be stored and then released when customers need power most.
• Lithium-ion batteries which are used in mobile phones and electric cars are currently the dominant storage technology.

What is the need for a large scale Battery Storage Project in Ladakh?

• The Government of India has planned to build 10GW of large green energy capacity projects in the Ladakh region, comprising both solar and wind projects.
• These large battery storage projects will be used to store the electricity generated to supply to the rest of the country through a transmission link.

Importance of Battery Energy Storage Systems for India:

• According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India’s power requirement would be 817GW by 2030. More than half of this would be clean energy. 
• This huge injection of electricity in the grid from sources such as solar and wind requires a storage mechanism that can help balance the national electricity grid. 
• Hence, it is estimated that there will be a need for a 27GW grid-scale battery energy storage system by 2030 with four hours of storage.
  • One GWh (1,000-MWh) of battery capacity is sufficient to power 1 million homes for an hour and around 30,000 electric cars.