Tata Power Delhi Distribution (Tata Power-DDL) has joined hands with AES India, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation, and Mitsubishi Corporation to start construction of India’s first utility-scale energy storage solution to serve Tata Power-DDL’s electric grid at Sector 24, Rohini, New Delhi.
The 10-mw solution will enable better peak load management, add system flexibility, and enhance reliability for more than 7 million customers in company’s area of operations. The energy storage solution will be completed and operational by the end of the year.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the project was organized on January 23, at Tata Power-DDL’s Rohini substation in the presence of Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power-DDL, among other dignitaries from AES Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation.
The key partners in the project are Tata Power DDL and Agilion Energy Pvt Ltd (the India-based joint venture between AES and Mitsubishi Corporation. The energy storage system technology will be supplied by Fluence, a 2018-incorporated company that represents the coming together of the energy storage businesses of Siemens and AES.
This first-of-its-kind project will lead to development and deployment of energy storage technologies in the Indian scenario, addressing challenges in the areas of peak load management, system flexibility, frequency regulation and reliability in the network etc. The project is also expected to support in policy planning, enhance storage trade and develop an outlook of India’s energy storage industry, a release from Tata Power DDL said.
Speaking on the occasion, Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power-DDL said, “We are privileged to implement India’s first utility-scale 10-MWh storage solution in collaboration with AES and Mitsubishi Corporation through their joint venture in India, Agilion Energy Pvt Ltd.”
“The pilot would provide a platform to showcase the energy storage systems as a critical distribution asset in the future and will play a role to align and balance distributed energy resources such as electric vehicles, rooftop solar, etc. This would also be integrated to smart grid technology platform of Tata Power – DDL,” Sinha added.
The deployment of the first grid-scale energy storage represents the latest step forward in modernizing India’s power system and improving grid efficiency. However, to accelerate storage in India, the government will need to provide strong policy guidance and directives on deployment to advance the industry and help the Indian power market quickly realize the benefits of energy storage, the release said.