Interested parties of the industry in Renewx 2025 in Chennai
As battery costs decrease and maximum energy prices increase, time is suitable for industry interested parties, particularly captive solar energy users, invest in battery energy storage systems (Bess). This is crucial to address the growing challenge of the afternoon peak demand and support for the stability of the network, M Chandrasekar, former president of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Tamil Nadu, said Wednesday.
Speaking in Renewx 2025 in Chennai, Chandrasekar emphasized the importance of integrated storage solutions for the future of solar energy. “Solar is not enough: we need integrated storage systems,” he said that solar plants should include at least one storage capacity of 20 percent. For example, a 10 MW solar park must incorporate 2 MW or battery storage located. He pointed out that storage is key not only for the stabilization of electric tariffs but also to guarantee the reliability of the network.
Chandrasekar stressed that battery prices have constantly fallen, creating an opportunity for captive solar users to store 10-20 percent of their solar energy production. This would reduce its dependence on the peak duration of the power of the network, when both the demand and the prices are higher. Currently, the distribution companies (Discom) buy the duration of the power of the power of ₹ 12 to ₹ 15 per unit, while solar users can only access the cheapest electricity at night. This creates financial discrepancies, since the Discomes buy energy at ₹ 10- ₹ 12 per unit, but consumers of Credit Energy buy with only ₹ 3 per unit, which imposes unnecessary financial tension for users.
He also explained that the peak hours of electricity rates can be 25 percent higher than the average, which makes battery storage an still attacker. Although the average rate is ₹ 7.30 per unit, the peak hours can increase to ₹ 9 or more, which presents an opportunity for developers to improve profitability by integrating storage.
Chandrasekar also recommends the promotion DC-A-DC coupling, which would allow solar panels to load batteries directly use the same investor both to load and disarm, which reduces costs.
Growing importance
G Sivaramakrishnan, president of the Kerala Renewable Energy Entrepreneurs Association (Kreepa), said that energy storage has become the fourth pillar of the energy ecosystem, generation, transmission and distribution in surrounding. Kerala has already published a regulation draft that requires that 10 percent of the energy be backed by storage, particularly to address their challenges between 6 pm and 10 pm when the stress of the network is higher.
Ramesh Shivanna, president of the Karnataka Renewable Energy System Manufacturers Association, added that states such as Karnataka, with an abundant hydroelectric energy potential, advance both in hydro storage initiatives and batteries pumped. .
With the government that launches renewable energy tenders 24 hours and offers incentives for developers that integrate storage, it has increasingly made energy storage an important element of the renewable energy strategy of India.
Posted on April 23, 2025
