Utility Scale Storage

Plummeting costs, industry maturity, and the ever-increasing penetration of global renewables are expanding the use cases for battery storage technology. Over the past year and a half, storage projects are increasing significantly in both scope and capacity.

The move is the latest attempt by the newly-elected state government to reverse renewable energy commitments made under the previous administration.

The new budget aims to seize the opportunity in energy storage and EVs through a range of incentives. However, alongside demand, production and export, the government also needs to focus on e-waste management and Li-ion battery recycling to sustain raw material supply and minimize environmental impact.

Mining company Neometals and Manikaran Power have started a jointly funded study into the feasibility of establishing India’s first lithium refinery, which would process ore from the Mount Marion mine in Western Australia.

The global energy storage market is poised to grow rapidly in the coming years, with Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predicting $620 billion in investment over the next two decades will push cumulative global installations to 942 GW/2,857 GWh by 2040. Declining lithium-ion battery costs are driving much of this growth, with BNEF expecting the cost of utility-scale storage systems to fall roughly 52% through 2030, following an approximate 80% slide in the average price of lithium-ion battery packs in the first seven years of the current decade.

In news that will add urgency to Indian government efforts to establish a domestic storage industry, funding has apparently been secured for 16 GWh-plus production lines in Sweden and Germany. Is India at risk of being left in the starting blocks?

State-owned Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited (MPPMCL) has invited domestic and global players for providing grid-scale energy storage services of up to 500 MW with 8 hours of daily discharge and setting up a storage manufacturing facility in the state. The deadline for proposal submission is August 2.

The preliminary proposals must reach the ministry by June 30. These will be examined by a committee and the shortlisted parties will be invited to submit final proposal.

With Leclanché due to open a module and battery pack assembly line in Gujarat alongside JV partner Exide Industries by the end of next month, the Swiss storage solutions company has been active nearer its home market.

Solar-plus-storage could be competitive against gas peaking power plants in Australia within the next five years, as the average solar-plus-storage LCOE across the Asia-Pacific region is set to fall from $133/MWh this year to $101/MWh by 2023, according to a newly released research report.