Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 24, 2024, dedicated to the nation India’s largest solar-powered battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
The project, located in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, was commissioned by Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) on February 1, 2024.
The 40 MW/120 MWh BESS with a solar photovoltaic plant which has an installed capacity of 152.325 MWh and dispatchable capacity of 100MW AC (155.02 MW peak DC)
The energy would be purchased by Chhattisgarh, thus contributing to meeting the peak energy demand of the state using green electrons and also towards its renewable purchase obligations.
A unique aspect of this project is its strategic use of previously unused land. Through a tripartite land-use permission agreement among the Energy Department of the Government of Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Ltd (CSPDCL), and SECI, 451 acres of waste land across 9 villages in Tehsil Dongargarh and Dongargaon, District Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, have been repurposed, a government release said.
The project ensures overall power stability and reliability by ensuring an efficient evacuation of power through a 132kV double-circuit double-string transmission line to Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Company’s 220/132kV Thelkadih substation, facilitating seamless integration into the existing power grid.
The project has been constructed with funding from the World Bank and Clean Technology Fund under Innovation in Solar Power & Hybrid Technologies Project as well as leveraged financing from domestic lending agencies. This further highlights the collaborative efforts to drive sustainable financial arrangements, making the project commercially attractive and viable, the release added.
VGF for BESS
In a related development, the Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R. K. Singh, chaired a meeting in New Delhi on February 22, 2024, to finalize the structure for operationalizing the scheme for Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for development of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) with capacity of 4,000 MWh.
Addressing members, the Minister said that the price of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) has come down in recent years. He stated that the government will encourage setting up ofBESS capacity to meet the fast-growing needs of power demand as well as energy transition. The Minister stated that a situation will arise in future where we have extra solar energy during the day and extra wind energy during the evening, which would go waste if adequate storage system is not deployed to store and utilize it when needed. Noting that the role of government is to create enabling structures so that investment can come in, the Minister said that he wants this system to fructify in a manner which provides energy at those times of the day and year when the nation needs it the most.
Also read: PM Dedicates NTPC’s Green Projects To The Nation
Photographs (source: PIB) relate to SECI’s newly dedicated BESS project in Chhattisgarh.
