Renewable based round the clock (RTC) power with PSP as storage - Reliable and indigenous solution

As per the revised Nationally Determined Contribution, India has made a commitment for decreasing the emissions intensity by 45 percent of its GDP by the year 2030, relative to the level observed in 2005. Furthermore, India aims to attain an approximately 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from energy resources that are not reliant on fossil fuels by the year 2030. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve a net Zero emissions status by the year 2070 (MoP, 2022b).

Issues related to development of solar and wind power is intermittency. As per study related to “Optimal location of various types of balancing energy resources /energy storage devices to facilitate grid integration of Renewable Energy Sources and associated issues” by CEA, integration/balancing cost of Renewable Energy Sources i.e solar and wind is around Rs. 1.11/kWh at all India level (CEA, 2017). In order to overcome this issue, development of balancing power like hydro, pump storage project, battery energy storage is required.

The Government of India has set ambitious goals to achieve its Net Zero targets by prioritizing the development of Renewable Based Round-the-Clock (RTC) Power as one of key tool. Nowadays, technology used for Renewable Based (RTC) power is either by using Pump Storage Project (PSP) or Battery as Energy Storage System (ESS).

For coming few years, battery storage will be a big challenge as commercially viable option as BESS technology is costly as compared to PSP (BESS cost 10-12 Cr/MW Vs PSS cost of 4-6 Cr/MW)(CEA, 2023) and there may be environmental issues while disposing used batteries after their life cycle. Development of RTC with PSP could be more optimal solution for few years.