Hyderabad: Energy storage batteries will soon be entering the Indian market in a big way. Power Grid Corporation has taken up battery energy storage system as a pilot project in Puducherry. Power Grid Corporation is testing three kinds of energy storage — Li-ion battery, advanced lead acid battery and flow battery systems. The expected life of these batteries is 10 years.
Several countries are already benefitting from these batteries. Energy storage batteries are the back-up power systems for solar units. The solar units soak in sunlight from 6 am to 5 pm and generate power. The solar units can disburse the power it has generated during the day, through the night hours. But once the unit discharges itself completely, it is not be able to generate further power till sunrise. But with the energy storage battery, solar power energises the battery. The power that is thereby generated can be released whenever required.
Australia is setting up 100 MW storage battery plant and now India is also following suit. Officials of the Power Grid Corporation has said that to set up the battery energy storage project in a quicker period, it would need higher ramp rate, flexibility in transportation and options of many chemistries. For installation of battery energy storage system, huge land parcels are not required. The energy officials said that the battery energy storage system also works like a power plant.
According to Power Grid Corporation, the Li-ion battery and advanced lead acid battery can be charged to full capacity in just 3 hours time. The life cycle (energy storage and utilisation) of Li-ion battery is 4,000 times at the rate of 900 MW hour and advanced lead acid battery life cycle is 3,000 times at the rate of 675 MW hour. The flow battery life cycle is 3,000 times at the rate of 2,700 MW hour. The officials said that the cost of Li-ion battery is Rs 6 crore per MW while the cost of flow battery and advanced lead acid battery is lesser.
