Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) has entrusted VolksEnergie with deployment of solar power plants backed with LFP-based (lithium ion phosphate) battery energy storage systems (BESS) for its oil and gas pipeline project.
As part of the project, Volks Energie will deploy a combined solar capacity of 280 kW backed with battery capacity of 1.6 MWh across 14 strategic locations in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. EIL will oversee the entire project as a project management consultant.
“Oil and gas pipelines need to operate safely. Cathodic protection is used to prevent corrosion of pipelines. Further, SCADA system is deployed for gas pipeline monitoring. These two critical loads over the pipeline need to work to ensure energy supply even in the event of extreme conditions like calamities and national security issues. Solar plus storage systems are deployed to provide backup to these systems,” Piyush Goyal, CEO at Volks Energie, told pv magazine. “For BPCL, Volks Energie will deploy a cumulative solar capacity of 280 kW backed with 1.6 MWh energy storage, which will be divided equally over 14 sites. Out of 20 kW solar at each site, 7-8 kW will be rooftop and the remaining 12-13 kW ground-mount.”
Volks Energie’s scope of work includes complete design, supply, installation, and commissioning with eight years annual maintenance contract (AMC).
This project marks BPCL’s foray into leveraging the advanced LFP batteries for its oil and gas pipeline project. Till now, NiCd have been deployed for oil and gas pipeline projects. The deployment of LFP batteries is a strategic move as these batteries offer a higher energy density.
Goyal said, “We have been deploying solar solutions using Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries for pipelines. This positions us uniquely to implement the first-of-its-kind LFP-based system. It’s a significant technical advancement and we look forward to being India’s trusted partners in sustainability and clean energy solutions.”
As LFP batteries are being deployed for the first time in such an intensive and sensitive oil and gas pipeline project, “Volks Energie has committed to deploying batteries with world-class safety systems, including an automatic fire suppression system. This will ensure no damage occurs to the sensitive pieces of equipment at the stations,” said Goyal.
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