The way our renewable energy sources are growing, to mitigate challenges related to their integration and maintain grid stability, we need to add massive energy storage facilities. It is truly commendable that the Government of India (GoI) has taken a series of coordinated policy, regulatory, demand-side and supply-side measures to promote the development and deployment of energy-storage technologies, including Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) and Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs).
GoI is drawing upon global best practices from countries with high renewable-energy penetration as part of India’s energy-transition strategy. International experience demonstrates that PSPs, BESSs, and advanced grid-management systems play a critical role in managing variability and intermittency of renewable energy. In line with these practices, energy storage systems in India are being positioned to provide ancillary grid services such as frequency control, voltage regulation, peak shifting, congestion management and black-start support across different time scales.
Also, under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Ancillary Services) Regulations, 2022, energy storage systems have been made eligible to provide Secondary Reserve Ancillary Services and Tertiary Reserve Ancillary Services, subject to specified conditions, thereby supporting real-time grid stability and reliable system operation. Renewable Energy Management Centres (REMCs) have been established for monitoring, forecasting and scheduling of Renewable resources. Automatic Generation Control (AGC) is being used for balancing supply and demand to manage variability of renewable energy.
Beside others, from this year onwards, our government has put in place a planning framework to guide large-scale deployment of energy storage capacity.
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