New Delhi: While pointing out that the prices of all forms of fossil fuels have shot through the roof in the recent times because they are controlled by one or two major players, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh urged world leaders to diversify the supply chains for battery storage. Speaking at the 5th ISA Assembly on Wednesday, Singh said that storage will remain expensive until volumes are added by all countries.
"Storage will remain expensive unless all of us adds volumes. India just bid out 1,000 MWh and we are in the process of bringing out another 1,000 MWh. And we are also setting up storage manufacturing facilities. We need the whole world to join in," said Singh while addressing global industry leaders and policy makers at the International Solar Alliance's 5th Assembly. He added that by 2030, India's capacity for manufacturing solar cells, modules, and polysilicon, would be somewhere in the range of 90 GW.
While complaining that energy supply chains have been skewed in favour of a few nations, Singh stressed on the need for diversification. "We need to diversify the supply chains, move away from Li-ion to other chemistries. We learnt an important lesson from the Covid pandemic that supply chains were skewed, concentrated in one or two countries and they need to be dispersed," he said.
"Without storage, we can't transition to renewable energy," said the minister who has once again been elected as the President of the ISA.
Urging world leaders to prioritise policy support for emerging areas in the renewable energy sector, MNRE Secretary Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi said, "The case for international cooperation is very strong. Building resilient and diversified solar supply chains and cross-country trade in hydrogen technologies is crucial to accelerate RE worldwide." He added that policy support can come in the form of regulatory measures or direct financial support, but it must come.
Citing India's case, he said that the government has extended policy support in the form of rewards for higher-efficiency modules in-built in the PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme and through the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) for solar technology. "We are moving towards a point where we will stop enlisting modules which are below a certain threshold of efficiency. The case for public sector support is very well established in the RE sector. We should also not shy away from providing direct subsidy support to emerging areas like hydrogen, offshore wind," he said.
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