The joint venture firm EPAL, owned by Indian state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and UK based Energy Pro Limited (EP) is partnering with leading Swiss battery storage solution provider Leclanché and development partner Deltro Energy.
The battery storage project will provide services to the Independent Energy Systems Operator (IESO). IESO oversees and manages the power grid of Ontario and is interconnected to Toronto Hydro, the largest electricity distribution company in Canada. With supply in Ontario over the last three years having shifted heavily towards intermittent power sources, additional grid management challenges have arisen for IESO, which the battery storage project will help manage.
The project will improve stability on Canada’s largest transmission grid by managing unbalanced supply-demand situations.
The partnership has gained strategic importance from India’s perspective, with its government wishing to achieve 175 GW of energy generated by renewables by 2022. This will amount to 40% of India’s energy supply, 12% up from its current status.
Furthermore, the Indian government recently launched a new domestic and overseas investment programme in new energy, of which the investment in the Leclanché and Deltro Project forms a part. Being part of India’s target commitment to COP21, its energy supply will rely on intermittent energy sources with auxiliary services being used to stabilize the grid.
The battery storage project will help achieve stabilization, supply power to charging stations and reduce the chance of unscheduled interchange charges.
Ambassador Mr. Dinesh K. Patnaik, Acting High Commissioner of India to UK, said, “This partnership marks the beginning of a significant development in the energy efficiency sector. With the ever-increasing energy consumption, technologies like battery storage will go hand in hand with efficiency to balance supply and demand. I am very hopeful that EPAL, with its excellent track record in driving the UJALA (UK Joins Affordable LEDs for All) initiative, will bring a revolution in the market with its advancement into battery storage projects.”
As part of India’s clean energy drives, the government has mandated that by 2030 all vehicles on its roads will be electric – the most aggressive such target in the world. Battery storage helps stabilize grids, which is a challenge as they become increasingly dependent on intermittent renewable energy sources. Storage also reduces the operational costs of grids and defers and reduces future infrastructure costs. Integral to its global programme, in May 2017, the Indian government announced that it would invest INR 13.26 billion ($175.7 million) in clean energy initiatives in the UK’s public and private sectors through EPAL.
The global energy storage markets continue to experience very high growth. According to Navigant Research, in the four years to 2020 utility-scale generation and micro grids will experience a Combined Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 48%; commercial and industrial battery systems, 58%; and eTransport, 37%.
Co-Author: Frederic Brown
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