Distributed Storage

The energy storage market is set to be the latest affected by Trump’s trade war as lithium-ion batteries were excluded from the group of Chinese imports for which the U.S. president announced tariffs would be delayed until December 15.

Of these, 5095 e-buses have been allocated to 64 cities for intracity operation, 400 for inter-city operation and 100 for last-mile connectivity to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Tariffs will be hiked down the value chain in order to encourage domestic solar manufacturing, which currently stands at just 3.2 GW for solar cells and 8.5 GW for solar modules.

Jointly organised by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and The International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT), the conclave on EV and charging infrastructure will take place on August 9, 2019 at ICAT’s Manesar Campus in Gurugram with over a hundred participating companies.

Air India SATS has introduced new aircraft-boarding walkways that use integrated solar roofing panels from Visaka Industries to run two air-conditioners for up to six hours.

The charging stations—to be installed in five metro cities—will come up at strategic locations frequented by potential electric vehicle owners such as Tata Motors dealerships, certain Tata Group retail outlets and other public locations.

A gloomy atmosphere currently hangs over the lithium-ion supply chain. Stationary battery storage equipment and electromobility offer tremendous opportunities. Yet many experts have concerns about the raw material supply and recycling situation. Christian Hagelüken, the Director of EU government affairs at Umicore, a major recycler and supplier of cobalt, explains his view of the situation.

“Lead-acid batteries are comparatively cheaper than other battery types such as Ni-MH and Li-ion. Moreover, these have the highest recyclability percentage of any product, and are therefore likely to find more takers owing to their reduced cost of production,” according to industry participants at the International Lead Conference held in Spain.

The charging stations should preferably be connected with grid-connected solar power plants of required capacity as per MNRE guidelines. The deadline for submission of the proposals is August 20.

The Mumbai-headquartered rural banking services provider will set up the electric vehicle charging infrastructure across its huge network of Nextgen outlets, which it plans to increase from current 3504 to 300,000 by FY 2024-25.