Wind-Solar Hybrid

The global hybrid energy market, including energy storage, is projected to touch $40 billion by 2025. It is an opportunity that India has capitalized upon, earlier than others.

The state—which commissioned an aggregate 3530.74 MW solar capacity as of May 31, 2020—will set up the new plants to ensure nine hours of free power supply to the agriculture sector.

Almost 10 GW of hybrid generation capacity is already under implementation despite India having only 100 MW of combined wind and PV projects at present, according to analyst Crisil.

The recently concluded 400 MW renewables auction to supply 24-hour electricity saw winning bid of INR2.90/kWh—a new milestone after peak+off-peak tariff of INR4.07 was achieved in January’s 1.2 GW auction demanding assured power supply during peak demand hours.

The developer can opt for solar, wind or an hybrid facility alongside an energy storage system to ensure 24-hour power supply.

Developers are also expected to drag their heels over project completion during the first half of the year as the safeguarding duty applied to imported Chinese and Malaysian solar products is due to expire at the end of July.

The state budget for 2020-21 has also allocated Rs 125 crore under Pradhan Mantri KUSUM Yojana to solarize 18,500 grid-connected pumps and for standalone offgrid solar power agriculture pumps.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India should amend the 400 MW round-the-clock supply tender to make co-location of solar, wind and storage mandatory in order to ensure optimal utilization of transmission infrastructure, says NSEFI chairman.

Capacity additions for the current fiscal year are set to exceed the previous accounting period’s 8,532 MW. With Rs405 billion invested in clean energy in the last fiscal year, spending in the first nine months of 2019-20 has been estimated at Rs367 billion.

Pumped hydro and battery projects, coupled with renewables, offer the world’s lowest peak clean electricity tariff. The tender, which received bids for for 1.62 GW of capacity against the 1.2 GW sought, saw Greenko secure 900 MW of pumped storage capacity and Renew Power 300 MW of battery storage.