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India tests battery storage in coal plants to balance grid when solar power surges

India is testing battery storage systems in some coal-fired power plants as it struggles to integrate massive solar power while maintaining a reliable electricity supply.

This concept is designed to address a major challenge for India's grid. Thermal plants are required to ramp down their output during the peak hours of solar production, but still maintain capacity in order to meet evening demand when solar power drops.

As the country expands its renewable energy capacity, the Central Electricity Authority has been developing guidelines for coal-based plants and technical requirements.

India aims to increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW in 2030. However, coal is still a key component of its energy security. The government intends to increase the coal-based power capacity by 97GW by 2035. This will bring it to 307GW, ensuring round-the-clock electricity.

Sometimes there are only two options. "Either you shut down (during excess solar production) or lose thermal capacity in evening, which is what we don't desire," CEA Chairman Ghanshyam Prsad said on the sidelines PowerGen India event in New Delhi.

He said that "we are only trying this as an experimental" and added that the top coal power producer in the country, NTPC, had been tasked to test this at certain plants.

CEA's Prasad explained that the batteries would enable the coal plants capture excess energy, and then dispatch it back to the grid when required. This would allow them to operate at an even rate, reducing costs and prolonging their life.

NTPC recently floated a bid for the installation of 1.7 GW battery storage at 11 coal plants. Reporting by Sethuraman N; Editing by PhilippaFletcher

(source: Reuters)