New Delhi: Union Power Minister RK Singh has said that the Centre will float tenders for 4,000 MWh battery storage but added that the manufacturing will have to be done in India. Speaking at the CII AatmaNirbhar Bharat Conference on Self Reliance in Renewable Energy Manufacturing on Thursday, Singh said, "We are working on storage. We intend to come out with bids for 4,000 MWh of storage as ancillary so at four RLDCs (regional load dispatch centres), we will have 1,000 MWh of storage (each) that will act as instant intervention mechanism wherever and whenever there is any sharp fluctuation because of renewables. Part of it will work as ancillary to the grid controller and part will be made available to the developers for use on a commercial basis."
"We will be adding more (battery) storage. We already have a PLI scheme. We want that capacity to be based on manufacturing in India. We do not want to export jobs to China or any other country," he added. The Power Minister said that discoms or the industry will be able to store energy when power generation is high, like during mid-day or when the wind is heavy, and draw from it during peak hours.
The minister also said that after the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme was announced, expressions of interest (EoIs) for manufacturing of large quantities of modules, cells and polysilicon have been received. "In polysilicon, we already have Coal India in partnership with one firm. Similarly, we have Reliance (Industries). Other companies are also going to set up manufacturing," he said. He added that a portion of the tenders will be reserved for cutting-edge technologies.
The minister said that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), which is also headed by Singh, has proposed amendments to make renewable purchase obligations (RPOs) more stringent and hopes to put it before the Cabinet. "We intend to make the provisions of RPOs more stringent with proposed amendments for strict penalties for not complying with the national RPO rules. State Electricity Regulatory Commissions will no longer have the freedom of fixing their own RPO trajectory independent of the Central trajectory," said Singh. He added that if the Central trajectory is implemented, the capacity would double and the growth will be exponential.
Speaking about 'greening' other sectors such as fertilisers and petrochemicals, Singh said that the government is planning to bring in purchase obligations for green Hydrogen and green ammonia. "We are going to come out with a green hydrogen purchase obligation, which we have already consulted with the concerned ministries… It can begin from 5 per cent and can go up… and eventually when the prices of green hydrogen comes down in the country we can do away with it," said Singh.
Regarding green ammonia, the minister said that the process is at an advanced stage with consultations with steel and other concerned ministries already completed.
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