Over two weeks at the beginning of December, unseasonal rains brought Chennai to a standstill. Rahul Walawalkar argues that energy storage-backed mircrogrids are an investment that would add resiliency of supply to extreme weather-affected areas as well as improving overall access to electricity.
PV inverter firm Bonfiglioli has launched its RPS TL-4Q inverter series for utility-scale grid-connected energy storage systems in India, claiming there is strong future potential for on-grid and off-grid battery storage systems in the Indian market.
News in brief: Indian PM Modi visits Tesla and talks solar-plus-storage with Musk; Scottish renewable energy group forms energy storage division; Harvard team developing flow batteries reports findings.
Tom Tipple, regional VP for Imergy Power Systems, a flow battery maker headquartered in Fremont, California, recently visited the PV Tech Storage offices to share his thoughts on the global market for energy storage.
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has invited expressions of interest (EOI) for energy storage demonstration projects to integrate renewables, recognising that the technology “has the potential to become highly attractive for both grid-connected and off-grid renewable energy applications”.
Renewables-powered energy systems that work independently of the grid at warehouse locations in India will be provided with flow battery-based energy storage solutions by US company Imergy.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is set to launch a technology roadmap for electricity storage at the solar industry conference and exhibition Intersolar Europe next month. IRENA technology roadmap analyst Ruud Kempener spoke to Andy Colthorpe about the project.
US renewable energy developer SunEdison is planning to power rural electrification and micro-grid projects in India with vanadium flow batteries, announcing that it plans to purchase 100 megawatt hours-plus from Imergy Power Systems.
Will the Indian battery market scenario witness a major change? As the power supply in the country continues to be unreliable, the role of batteries has to change from being an emergency back-up solution to a long time power/energy storage solution.
Dr Rahul Walawalkar, founder and executive director of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), on why his organisation is excited by the promises of the Modi government, how he hopes the decade between 2015 and 2025 will be one of “energy infrastructure transformation” for the country and the role energy storage and microgrids might play in that transition.
