ETN_IESAMagazine_Volume2Issue2_2015 (1)

3 rd Year 

IESA 

India Energy Storage Alliance 

Special 

Emerging Technology 

News 

Issue2 Volume2 Apr-Jun 2015 

UPS 

UPS 

STORAGE 

STORAGE

C ONTENTS 

TECH INSIGHTS GUEST ARTICLE MARKET INSIGHTS 

THE INDIAN BATTERY MARKET WILL 

WITNESS A CHANGE 

INDIA’S TWO WHEELER ELECTRIC 

VEHICLE SEGMENT 

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND SMART 

ENERGY SOLUTIONS ARE THE KEY 

FACTORS TO REALISE THE VISION 

OF SMART CITIES IN INDIA 

PG 18 PG 08 

PG 20 

Emerging 

Technology News 

00 EDITORS DESK 

PG 03 

Volume 2 Issue 2; 

April-June 2015 

01 

IESA NEWS 

PG 06 

03 

INDIA POLICY UPDATE 

PG 12 

04 

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS 

PG 16 

07 

INDUSTRY NEWS 

PG 27 

08 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

PG 32 

Editorial Team 

Dr Rahul Walawalkar 

Debi Prasad Dash 

Netra Walawalkar 

Design : Insonics 

A501 GO SQUARE , AUND HINJEWADI LINK RD , 

WAKAD PUNE MH INDIA - 411057 

contact@indiaesa.info 

indiaesa.info 

1

AD SPAC E 

2

EIDITORS 

DESK 

Energy Storage: Enabling a 

decade of sustainable energy 

transformation in India 

00 

With the recent announcement from Ministry 

of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) about 

Expression of Interest for Energy Storage 

projects to support renewable integration, 

there is tremendous excitement about India’s 

proposed Energy Storage Mission. India has 

witnessed number of transformations in past 

50 years starting with the Green Revolution 

of 1960s that transformed the agricultural 

practices in India. In 1970s and 80s, the “White 

Revolution - Operation Flood” included the 

world’s biggest dairy development program 

 

nation to the largest milk producer in the 

world within a span of 30 years. The 1990s 

saw the economic reforms that opened up the 

Indian economy and led to the telecom and 

IT revolutions that have made India a leader 

in the knowledge economy in the 2000s. This 

is a decade where India needs a clean energy 

revolution for transforming the electricity 

infrastructure to provide energy access to 

over 400 million of households that still lack 

basic access to electricity. 

Today, India is one of the fastest growing 

economies in the world, with current electricity 

peak load of ~150 GW to meet the needs of 

over 1.25 Billion population. India’s per capita 

annual consumption of energy at ~800 kWh 

is one of the lowest in the world, even when 

compared to developing countries like Brazil 

and China. At the same time India currently 

boasts a middle class population exceeding 

300 Million (almost the size of USA) that is 

looking for the same level of energy access 

and power quality that is taken for granted 

in developed countries through movement 

towards Smart Cities. Also the lack of reliable 

and quality power supply is a major obstacle 

for accelerating development of manufacturing 

sector in India under Indian Government’s 

Make in India initiative. Consumers bear 

a large burden due to poor quality and 

3

EDITORS DESK 

unreliable power supply. Industries maintain 

diesel powered generators and households 

have inverters with batteries as backup for 

unscheduled power cuts, low voltages or 

variable frequency. 

Energy Storage systems can play a key role 

in every part of the modern grid in India 

as envisioned by the central government of 

India: 

 

clean energy technologies with anticipated 

addition of over 60 GW of new wind capacity 

and 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022. 

 

energy access through microgrids for the 400 

million people without access to reliable grid 

electricity. 

 

transforming 100 smart cities in coming 

decade where energy storage technologies 

can serve as a backbone for better power 

quality and reliability desired by consumers. 

 

introduce ancillary services as well as 

scheduling of renewable resources that would 

help in increasing renewable penetration in 

the grid. 

 

transportation program with a goal of over 15 

Million EV/ HEVs by 2020 to reduce oil import 

bills. 

India Energy Storage Alliance (www.indiaesa. 

info) was created in 2012 with a conviction 

that energy storage technologies can help 

India leapfrog the modern grid development. 

India has recently grabbed global attention 

through early adaptors such as Reliance Jio, 

who has purchased Li-Ion batteries worth 

$300 M for the new 4G telecom towers and 

Sun Edison that has just recently announced 

 

Imergy Power for microgrids in India. Power 

Grid Corporation of India Ltd. has successfully 

conducted RFPs for selecting 3 different 

storage technologies of 500 KW for ancillary 

service demonstration project. Adoption of 

energy storage technologies is also being 

helped by reduction in capital costs and 

simultaneous improvements in performance. 

Simultaneously the cycle life improvements 

in most of the energy storage technologies 

will play a key role in reducing the levalized 

cost of energy storage and making these 

technologies a commercially viable solution in 

next 2-3 years. 

We also believe that India has potential of not 

only becoming the one of the largest markets 

for advanced storage technologies, but also a 

key player in the global supply chain through 

localization and innovation in energy storage 

 

Acid manufacturing industry with global leaders 

such as Exide and Amara Raja supplying lead 

acid batteries to over 35 countries around the 

globe. Various research universities are setting 

up Center of Excellences in energy storage and 

there are efforts to start incubation centers 

to accelerate development of next generation 

technologies in India. Ministry of New and 

Renewable Energy is currently working on a 

policy framework on storage and has created 

a standing committee on energy storage and 

hybrid system. Ministry of heavy Industries 

is working on the National Electric Mobility 

Mission and Ministry of Power is set to launch 

National Smart Grid Mission. With this right 

policy support, Indian Industry and Research 

community has the potential to deliver 

solutions that will not only address challenges 

faced by consumers in India, but also become 

a global hub for advanced energy storage 

solutions by 2020. 

4

IESA is a new initiative, still in infancy, 

but with the support of all our members and 

strategic partners from around the world, we 

 

in this energy revolution for India in coming 

decade. India has a robust manufacturing 

sector and many innovative entrepreneurs 

who are looking forward to forge partnerships 

with leading global technology companies. 

Such partnership has true potential to not 

only help solve the energy issues in India, 

but could make India a manufacturing base 

that can support needs of the global energy 

storage industry. 

 

in IESA activities rewarding and will be 

able to build relationships that can help 

commercialization and adoption of emerging 

energy storage & Microgrid technologies in 

India. We are happy to help in this exploration 

and hope to continue working with you in 

years ahead. 

With best regards, 

Rahul Walawalkar 

PhD, CEM, CDSM 

PRESIDENT & MD, CUSTOMIZED ENERGY SOLUTIONS INDIA PVT. LTD. 

VICE PRESIDENT, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, CES LTD. 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INDIAN ENERGY STORAGE ALLIANCE 

5

IESA 

NEWS 

01 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit 

 

by an Indian PM in over 40 years, is a sure 

sign that relations between our two countries 

are reaching new heights. The visit, which 

resulted in several new bilateral agreements 

and commercial deals worth over $1.6 billion. 


(IESA), India signed an MOU 

with ESO, Canada 

I NDIA CAN BE A KEY MANUFAC TURING 

H UB AND ATTRAC TIVE MARKET FOR 

C ANADIAN ESS INDUSTRY 

India Energy storage alliance 

(IESA) signed an MOU with Energy 

Storage Ontario (ESO) to work in a 

collaborative manner on the relevant 

issues regarding energy storage and 

its development and integration. 

Recently the India Energy Storage Alliance 

(IESA) signed an MOU with Energy Storage 

Ontario (ESO) to work in a collaborative manner 

on the relevant issues regarding energy 

storage and its development and integration. 

The parties enter into this memorandum of 

understanding (MOU), agreeing to, whenever 

possible, share information and work in a 

collaborative manner on the relevant issues 

regarding energy storage and its development 

and integration. We hope that this collaboration 

will bring new technologies and expertise to 

India to boost energy storage market. 

Through this partnership IESA and ESO 

will establish forums for timely and open 

exchange of information on current and 

planned activities relevant to the vision to 

achieve reliable and quality power for all, 

involving a broad array of stakeholders. 

This platform will share information on 

key topics affecting development and 

implementation of the vision. It could 

establish non-exclusive vehicles for engaging 

the broad array of stakeholders including 

the utility industry, regulatory organizations, 

energy, telecommunications, controls, and 

information technology vendors, technology 

companies, consumer groups, government 

and non-governmental organizations. 

The year 2015 will be the most active year in the 

energy storage market in India. Government’s 

ambitious target of 175 GW of renewable 

energy by 2022 and “Make in India” campaign 

has largely encouraged all stakeholders to 

shift their focus to Indian Energy Storage 

Market. Energy storage technologies could 

play a key role in achieving this goal of greater 

renewable integration. India is poised for rapid 

adoption of energy storage technologies in 

the coming decade. Power Grid Corporation of 

 

storage projects during the year 2014. Many 

MNCs started their India operation and few 

other Indian companies stepped into energy 

storage verticals to leverage this opportunity 

in Indian market. This year IESA expect few 

more energy storage pilot projects will come 

in Indian market from both government 

and private sectors.’ 

6

IESA NEWS 

in India through frequent interaction with all 

key stakeholders. As estimated by IESA, the 

energy storage alliance in Canada. It is a Indian energy storage market will be in the 

range of 15 to 20 GW in the period of 2015 to 

that was founded in 2012 as a subgroup of 2020. IESA will highlight the diversity of the 

the Corporate Partners Committee under 

the Smart Grid Forum. Like many other and microgrids. For details visit http:// 

jurisdictions, Ontario is a market where indiaesa.info 

energy storage can serve many roles and 

solve many problems. Ontario has phased 

 

been bringing online more variable generators 

powered by renewable fuel sources. With the 

growing fraction of variable generation and 

 

 

2013, the Ontario Ministry of Energy released 

its Long-Term Energy Plan which mandated 

the procurement of 50 MW of energy storage. 

The Energy Storage Ontario (ESO) is a trade 

association that promotes the development 

and commercialization of competitive 

and reliable energy storage delivery 

systems through federal education, policy 

leadership, and advocacy in the province of 

Ontario for more details visit http://www. 

energystorageontario.com ;; 

The India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) 

was launched in 2012 by Customized Energy 

Solutions to promote energy storage and 

micro grid technologies and their applications 

in India. IESA’s mission is to make power 

sector in India more competitive and 

 

various stakeholders in the industry and by 

promoting information exchange with the 

end users. IESA also provides insights to 

technology developers, original equipment 

manufacturers and system integrators on the 

policy landscape and business opportunities 

7

GUEST 

ARTICLE 

India received a major boost for its Electric 

Vehicle(EV) industry in April 2015, when the Union 

Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, 

launched the new subsidy scheme titled “Faster 

adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric 

vehicles in India”, also known as ‘Fame India’. 

According to the minister, “It is a dire necessity to 

 

friendly yet cost-effective for transport” reported 

by Press Information Bureau. After the successful 

launch of subsidy schemes for EVs by the Ministry of 

New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in 2010, which 

saw a big increase in the adoption of 2 Wheeler (2W) 

EVs, the Government released an ambitious mission 

plan for the EV segment called the National Electric 

Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) in January 2013. 

India. ‘Fame India’ is a demand incentive plan for 

NEMMP and it based on the National Mission on 

Electric Mobility (NMEM), which the Government of 

India set up in 2011. 

The budget allocations for the demand incentives 

under ‘Fame India’ are INR 155 crore for 2015–16 

and INR 340 crore for the year 2016–17 for all EV 

segments. These demand incentives are given as 

discounts on vehicles. Vehicle dealers are supposed 

to start receiving the reimbursement for these 

discounts in 2–3 months, starting from August 2015. 

For charging infrastructure, a budget of INR 10 crore 

and 20 crore is allocated for the years 2015–16 and 

2016–17, resp. 

02 

India’s 2-Wheeler Electric Vehicle 

Segment 

The Center for Study of Science, Technology and 

Policy (CSTEP) has analysed the market, policy 

instruments and technical challenges related to 

the 2W EV segment which is also known as the 

electric bike segment. CSTEP’s analysis shows 

that both technical and policy related challenges 

are a deterrent to the adoption of electric bikes in 

India. A demand of 3.5–5 million 2W EV sales has 

been projected by NEMMP. Although this segment 

has the highest demand potential among all EV 

segments, technological challenges such as low 

range and the requirement of long charging time are 

major impediments hampering sales. India is also 

 

power supply. The government needs to set up 

additional power generation infrastructure in order 

to make EVs more attractive 

 

segments – Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and 

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV); the latter consist 

of an internal combustion engine along with the 

battery. Hence, HEVs are generally more expensive 

than BEVs. Currently, in the 2W EV segment the 

major BEV manufacturers are Hero electric and YO 

bykes. Only TVS has come up with a 2W HEV called 

TVS Qube. The price of TVS Qube is expected to 

be INR 65,000, while BEV models are priced at 

INR 30,000–50,000. Although the subsidy amount 

declared on the 2W EVs ranges from INR 1,800– 

29,000 under ‘Fame India’, consumers can avail 

discounts of INR 7,500–10,000 on available models 

in the market. The comparable conventional, petrolbased 

2Ws include Honda Activa, TVS Jupiter, and 

Hero Maestro which cost INR 50,000–65,000. 

Technological Challenges 

CSTEP’s analysis of the various technological 

challenges faced by the 2W EV segment falls under 

two categories – battery technology and charging 

infrastructure. 

Currently, the EV technology is not mature 

8

GUEST ARTICLE 

Battery Technology 

enough to allow 

BEVs to compete with fossil fuel based vehicles. 

A major component in BEVs is the battery which 

has the highest cost among all other components; 

major technological challenges in BEVs are also 

associated with the battery. The energy storage 

capacity (kWh/kg) of batteries is about 100 times 

less than that of petrol or diesel. Hence, BEVs provide 

low range per charge. The 2W BEV models in the 

Indian market promise only 50–80 km range. The 

solution for this limited range issue is the installation 

of a larger battery pack. However, this increases 

 

a solution, a business model of leasing batteries 

 

of batteries. 

Another technical problem of BEVs is that their 

speed and acceleration is lower than conventional 

fuel-based vehicles because of the low power 

capacity (kW/kg) of batteries. The top speeds of 

these models range from 25–55 kmph. Higher 

speeds can be achieved by either increasing 

the cost or compromising the range. The use of 

supercapacitors in BEVs is a potential solution 

that the industry should explore. Supercapacitors 

are a type of electrochemical capacitors that use 

a physical process to store energy, unlike batteries 

which use chemical reactions. These have very 

high power capacity; hence they can charge and 

discharge very quickly unlike batteries. Thus, the 

use of supercapacitors is indispensable for faster 

BEVs. However, it is an expensive technology. In the 

future, supercapacitors can be made up of graphite 

which can be manufactured from organic wastes 

like coconut shell, hemp, etc., to reduce the cost. 

NEMMP aims to support R&D efforts related to next 

generation battery technologies and an expenditure 

of INR 1000 crore is expected till 2020. To address 

the technological bottlenecks in EVs, collaboration 

of local academic institutes with industry is of 

foremost importance. 

Charging related issues are another reason for low EV 

Charging Infrastructure 

penetration in vehicles market. All 2W BEV models 

in India use lead acid batteries. Lead acid batteries 

take 6–8 hours to charge, which makes these 

models unattractive to consumers as compared to 

petrol driven 2Ws. A low range clubbed with poor 

availability of charging stations lead to a range 

anxiety among consumers. A solution for quick 

recharging is battery swap, which is the equivalent 

of refuelling a vehicle, in terms of time. A strategic 

charging infrastructure network and battery swap 

stations can eliminate this problem and will make 

the use of BEVs in long distance drives possible. 

Smart grids can manage electricity loads during 

peak demand hours for utility and BEV charging. 

They can provide information on grid network, 

empty slots for charging, usage, and cost statistics. 

NEMMP has mentioned plans of spending around 

INR 1200 crore on charging infrastructures by 2020. 

9

GUEST ARTICLE 

VEHICLE TYPE 

HERO ELECTRIC BIKES 

YO BIKES HONDA ACTIVA TVS JUPITER 

RANGE (KM) 

50-80 

60-70 

240-320 

250-310 

FUEL 

ELECTRICITY 

ELECTRICITY 

PETROL 

PETROL 

CHARGING / REFUELLING TIME 

6-7 HRS 

6-8 HRS 

< 5 MINS 

< 5 MINS 

TOP SPEED (KM/HR) 

25-45 

25-55 

82 

90 

BATTERY LIFE (KM) 

15,000 

18,000 

- 

- 

BATTERY LIFE (YEARS) 

1.25 

1.5 

- 

- 

PRICE INR 

35,000-50,000 

40,000-55,000 

55,000-65,000 

50,000-60,000 

SUBSIDY INR 

7,500-10,000 

7,500-9,400 

- 

- 

COST OF FUEL 

0.1 - 0.2 

0.1 - 0.27 

1.1 - 1.6 

1.1 - 1.6 

The overall EV technology is improving and costs 

are coming down. Incentives such as discounts, low 

 

As their market penetration increases, costs will 

reduce automatically due to economies of scale and 

advances in technology. However, the industry will 

require appropriate support from the government in 

terms of policies and R&D funding if it is to become 

a key instrument in India’s goal of achieving lowcarbon 

transportation. 

AUTHOR: 

GANESHPRASAD RAVINDRA PAVASKAR 

RESEARCH ENGINEER 

CENTER FOR STUDY OF SCIENCE, 

TECHNOLOGY AND POLICY (CSTEP), 

BANGALORE 

E-MAIL: GANESHPRASAD@CSTEP.IN 

10

INDIA POLICY 

UPDATE 

03 

India Govt approves National 

Smart Grid Mission 

Government has launched the scheme 

namely Faster Adoption and Manufacturing 

of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME India) 

under National electric Mobility Mission Plan 

(NEMMP 2020) 

Government of India launched the National Electric 

Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 in 2013. It 

aims to achieve national fuel security by promoting 

hybrid and electric vehicles in the country. There 

is an ambitious target to achieve 67 million sales 

of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 

 

and monetary incentives to kick start this nascent 

technology. With the support from the Government, 

the cumulative sale is expected to reach 1516 Million 

by 2020. It is expected to save 9500 Million Liters 

of crude oil equivalent to Rs. 62000 Cr. savings. 

Government has launched the scheme namely 

Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) 

Electric Vehicles (FAME India) under NEMMP 2020 

in the Union Budget for 201516 with an initial outlay 

of Rs. 75 Cr. 

The scheme will provide a major push for early 

adoption and market creation of both hybrid and 

electric technologies vehicles in the country. The 

thrust for the Government through this scheme will 

be to allow hybrid and electric vehicles to become 

 

vehicles can replace the conventional vehicles and 

thus reduce liquid fuel consumption in the country 

from the automobile sector. It is envisaged that early 

market creation through demand incentive, in-house 

technology development and domestic production 

 

of scale in the long run by around the year 2020. 

Government has approved the National Smart Grid 

Mission (NSGM) -an institutional mechanism for 

planning, monitoring and implementation of policies 

and programs related to Smart Grid activities. This 

was stated by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of state for 

Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy (IC) in a 

written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today. 

The total outlay for NSGM activities for 12th Plan is 

Rs 980 crore with a budgetary support of Rs 338 

crore. 

NSGM has three tier structure: 

 

Council headed by the Minister of Power. Members 

 

of concerned Ministries and departments. Role of 

Governing Council is to approve all policies and 

programme for smart grid implementation. 

 

Empowered Committee headed by Secretary 

(Power). Members of the Empowered Committee 

 

Ministries and departments. Role of Empowered 

Committee is to provide policy input to Governing 

 

grid projects, guidelines / procedures etc. 

 

Committee headed by Chairperson (CEA). Members 

of the Technical Committee are Director level 

 

representatives from industries and academia. 

Role of Technical Committee is to support the 

Empowered Committee on technical aspect, 

standards development, technology selection 

guidelines etc. 

11


 

NSGM Project Management Unit (NPMU) headed 

by the Director NPMU. Director NPMU is a 

Member of the Governing Council and Empowered 

Committee, and Member Secretary of Technical 

Committee. NPMU is the implementing agency 

for operationalizing the Smart Grid activities in the 

country under the guidance of Governing Council 

and Empowered Committee. 

 

is available from NSGM budget. For selected 

components such as training & capacity building, 

 

 

Mission chaired by the Power Secretary of the State 

has also been proposed. Support for training & 

capacity building to State Level Project Monitoring 

Units (SLPMUs) for smart grid activities is provided 

by NSGM. 

The Minister further stated that The major activities 

envisaged under NSGM are development of 

smart grid, development of micro grids, consumer 

engagements and training & capacity building etc. 

NSGM entails implementation of a smart electrical 

 

of automation, communication and IT systems that 

 

generation to points of consumption, the Minister 

added. 

CERC has issued revised draft Regulatory 

Proposed Framework for Forecasting, 

Scheduling & Imbalance Handling for 

Renewable Energy (RE) Generating 

Stations based on wind and solar at Inter- 

State Level 

Framework for Forecasting, Scheduling & Imbalance 

Handling for Renewable Energy (RE) Generating 

Stations based on wind and solar at Inter-State 

Level”. RE generation by nature is considered 

intermittent, uncertain and variable. Taking into 

consideration these aspects and to facilitate 

integration of RE generation in the grid, CERC has 

proposed this framework for forecasting, scheduling 

 

RE generation (like wind and solar) which also 

factors in the variable and intermittent nature of such 

generation. This could lead to renewed interest in 

use of energy storage for smoothing the renewable 

output and helping renewable project developers 

to schedule the intermittent wind / solar power as 

stipulated in the proposed framework. 

The proposed framework for the wind and solar 

energy generators provides motivation to the Wind/ 

Solar energy generator to remain within the desirable 

 

of higher deviations than the proposed band 

especially in lean season for wind generation and 

in rainy season for solar generation. The framework 

suggests the generator to take into consideration 

the costs associated with the “forecasting” tools and 

techniques. But what also need to be considered 

 

variable power. The stakeholders will show interest 

in certain business options only if they get attractive 

returns with certain degree of assurance. It has 

been observed that the deviations especially in case 

 

So, the stakeholders would be more apprehensive 

to venture into the interstate sale business. 

12


The RE stakeholders do not venture into interstate 

sale not only because they require to schedule the 

generation, but, they need to pay transmission 

and wheeling charges and bear Transmission and 

wheeling losses for the involved network. As the CUF 

 

the charges based on rated capacity (MW basis) do 

not provide a commercially attractive business case 

for RE stakeholders. At present, CERC has waived 

off interstate charges for Solar Generators. But, 

based on prevailing regulatory work and proposed 

 

to attract stakeholders to adopt this interstate 

transaction route unless some market designs are 

created for RE generation integrated with the energy 

storage. 

Till date, the Unscheduled Interchange was being 

commercially settled as per the Deviation Settlement 

 

for interstate transactions. The national grid faced 

major failures in July, 2012. Since then, there has 

been a demand for bringing in the framework which 

can take care of power quality and grid security & 

stability. 

Over the years, CERC has tightened the frequency 

band. CERC had also issued a staff paper on 

Ancillary Services in December 2013. After having 

discussions with the appropriate authorities and 

stakeholders consultation meets, CERC has issued 

draft regulatory framework for introduction of 

Ancillary Services at Interstate level. 

determined or adopted by the Commission and 

are operating on part load and have not received 

full requisition shall be eligible to participate in the 

Reserves Regulation Ancillary Services Market. 

Although these rules are a step in right direction, 

relying on stranded capacity for ancillary services 

such as frequency regulation may not be most 

economical. As it has been seen in US, energy 

 

effective for procuring fast frequency regulation 

service to the grid and thus help optimize the grid 

resources better than use of conventional fossil 

generators. IESA has released a comprehensive 

report titled “Energy Storage Technologies for 

Ancillary Services in India” 

The Government is very serious on increasing RE 

mix. The proposed amendment in National Tariff 

Policy for higher RPO obligations, the commitment 

from investors for 266 GW in REINVEST 2015 

 

high RE based capacity installations in some RE 

prominent states. 

The RE generation is being effectively utilized to 

provide ancillary services in some of the Countries. 

CERC may think seriously to bring in the required 

ancillary services framework by introducing market 

designs for RE (integrated with storage) as well. This 

will help the RE generators in having more business 

options and earn revenue from multiple streams and 

 

At present, around 5000MW interstate generating 

capacity is not getting requisitioned. CERC intends 

to tap this capacity for initiating Ancillary services. 

Objective of proposed Reserves Regulation Ancillary 

Services (RRAS) is to restore the frequency level at 

desired level and to relieve the congestion in the 

transmission network. 

All Inter-State Generating Stations whose tariff is 

13


CERC - Draft Regulations for 

Ancillary Services Operations 

Till date, the Unscheduled Interchange was being 

commercially settled as per the Deviation Settlement 

 

for interstate transactions. The national grid faced 

major failures in July, 2012. Since then, there has 

been a demand for bringing in the framework which 

can take care of power quality and grid security & 

stability. 

Over the years, CERC has tightened the frequency 

band. CERC had also issued a staff paper on 

Ancillary Services in December 2013. After having 

discussions with the appropriate authorities and 

stakeholders consultation meets, CERC has issued 

draft regulatory framework for introduction of 

Ancillary Services at Interstate level. 

resources better than use of conventional fossil 

generators. IESA has released a comprehensive 

report titled “Energy Storage Technologies for 

Ancillary Services in India” 

The Government is very serious on increasing RE 

mix. The proposed amendment in National Tariff 

Policy for higher RPO obligations, the commitment 

from investors for 266 GW in REINVEST 2015 

 

high RE based capacity installations in some RE 

prominent states. 

The RE generation is being effectively utilized to 

provide ancillary services in some of the Countries. 

CERC may think seriously to bring in the required 

ancillary services framework by introducing market 

designs for RE (integrated with storage) as well. This 

will help the RE generators in having more business 

options and earn revenue from multiple streams and 

 

At present, around 5000MW interstate generating 

capacity is not getting requisitioned. CERC intends 

to tap this capacity for initiating Ancillary services. 

Objective of proposed Reserves Regulation Ancillary 

Services (RRAS) is to restore the frequency level at 

desired level and to relieve the congestion in the 

transmission network. 

All Inter-State Generating Stations whose tariff is 

determined or adopted by the Commission and 

are operating on part load and have not received 

full requisition shall be eligible to participate in the 

Reserves Regulation Ancillary Services Market. 

Although these rules are a step in right direction, 

relying on stranded capacity for ancillary services 

such as frequency regulation may not be most 

economical. As it has been seen in US, energy 

 

effective for procuring fast frequency regulation 

service to the grid and thus help optimize the grid 

14

INTERNATIONAL 

MARKETS 

04 

 

must double to 45 per cent by 2030. To do so, an 

estimated 150 GW of battery storage and 325 GW 

of pumped-storage hydroelec¬tricity will be needed, 

making storage a vital element in the expansion of 

renewable energy. 

IRENA Roadmap Breaks New 

Ground on Renewable Energy 

Storage 

A new ground-breaking report from the International 

Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) provides clear 

direction on how to advance storage systems as part 

of the infrastructure for a sustainable energy future. 

Renewables and Electricity Storage, released today 

on the side lines of IRENA’s ninth Council meeting, 

 

where governments and industry can work together 

to facilitate the development of policies on electricity 

storage for renewables. The report is part of IRENA’s 

REmap 2030 program. 

To avoid the worst effects of climate change and 

accelerate sustainable energy transformation and 

economic growth, IRENA’s REmap 2030 report 

“Now is the time to think about integrating largescale 

battery storage into the global energy system,” 

said IRENA Director-General Adnan-Z Amin. “This 

roadmap is a starting point for all policy makers 

seeking to integrate greater storage capabilities, 

which is necessary to ensure the world is ready 

for the next phase of growth for renewable power 

systems.” Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, Executive Director 

- IESA, VP, Emerging Technologies & Markets, 

Customized Energy Solutions was present at the 

ninth IRENA Council meeting, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E as 

a speaker. 

 

storage to support renewables in islands and 

remote areas, consumer-located storage for selfconsumption 

in countries with high shares of 

rooftop solar PV systems, generator and gridlocated 

storage for countries with grid infrastructure 

constraints and system analysis tools for countries 

preparing to transition their power sector towards 

GRAPHIC FROM THE RENEWABLES AND 

ELECTRICITY STORAGE REPORT. SYSTEMS, 

GENERATION- AND GRID-LOCATED FOR 

COUNTRIES WITH GRID INFRASTRUCTURE 

CONSTRAINTS, AND SYSTEM ANALYSIS TOOLS 

FOR COUNTRIES PREPARING TO TRANSITION 

THEIR POWER SECTOR TOWARDS RENEWABLES. 

15

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS 

renewables. 

The roadmap is the product of four stakeholder 

workshops involving more than 200 electricity 

storage experts from 50 countries. One of the 

successful Workshop was organised during Energy 

Storage India Conference 2014 at New Delhi, India. 

“The value of this roadmap is that it brought 

together policy makers from across the globe with 

the leading industry experts and academics,” said 

Chairperson of the Global Energy Storage Alliance 

Janice Lin. “At every workshop, we were asked to 

 

is truly a product of international cooperation.” 

16

TECHNOLOGY 

INSIGHT 

By Harsh Thacker, 

Senior Analyst, at Customized Energy 

Solutions 

Will the Indian battery market scenario witness a 

major change? As the power supply in the country 

continues to be unreliable, the role of batteries has to 

change from being an emergency back-up solution 

to a long time power/energy storage solution. With 

the advent of the summer, as in each previous year, 

the power supply scenario will only worsen, and the 

sales of batteries, inverters and solar panels will be 

at their peak. 

05 

Times of Change in the Indian 

Battery Energy Storage Market 

The consumers are expecting their inverters to work 

for long hours and to carry the entire load in their 

 

acid batteries have so far played the role of energy 

storage devices in the country, but they are yet to 

deliver the customers’ expectation of providing 

high power storage for long hours with 3-5 year 

life. Additionally, many residential, commercial and 

industrial complexes have started installing rooftop 

solar PV modules along with inverters and battery 

storage. With such applications, high demand 

supply mismatch and high ownership costs of 

diesel gensets, consumers will feel the need for high 

power, deep discharge batteries more than they 

wanted in the past. Along with these changes, the 

price range of lithium-ion batteries have come down 

considerably over the last 12 months to change the 

dynamics of the market. It was not long back when 

Li-ion batteries were costing more than $ 1000/kWh. 

Now some of the global Li-ion battery manufacturers 

have reported even price points below $400/kWh 

for the same technology. 

On the other hand, the energy storage market in 

India is expecting the announcement of Energy 

Storage Mission by the MNRE (Ministry of New 

and Renewable Energy, Government of India) at RE 

Invest in February 2015; which will bring a change in 

the scenario of storage applications at grid storage, 

like renewable energy integration and grid ancillary 

services. 

At the Energy Storage India conference in New Delhi 

 

2014) Mr. Sushil Kumar Soonee, CEO, POSOCO, said 

that both the regulatory and the planning team have 

to consider the price of load shedding and power 

disruptions, which the end consumers have to pay. 

The tool of load shedding will be always a cheaper 

option than the tool of the ancillary service market. 

But if we consider the cost which the end consumer 

pays for the load shedding, energy storage solutions 

 

regulatory panel in the conference also commented 

that the Indian grid operators are everyday handling 

ramp rates of over 40 MW per minute, which is 

an incredible effort. Energy storage can help the 

operators in smoothing this steep rate and can 

make the grid more secure. Most of the exhibitors 

and visitors at Energy Storage India showcased and 

discussed advanced battery technologies like the 

Lithium Ion, UltraBattery, Flow Batteries, Sodium 

Batteries and other new technologies. 

On the other hand, the local battery exhibitions 

in India, such as PowerOn (January 2015) and 

Maharashtra Battery Expo (which concluded in 

December 2014), were dominated by Lead Acid 

industry. It was very refreshing to witness greater 

participation of VRLA battery exhibitors, instead of 

 

application of up to 400 Ah. 

Among hundreds of exhibitors of lead-acid 

17

TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT 

batteries, in a corner there was also a Lithium 

Phosphate battery company from China, all ready to 

sell its storage solution for solar and EV application 

 

manufacturer eyeing to sell its products to the rooftop 

Solar PV market in India. At a price point of 

 

 

in the country to start the manufacturing of Li-ion 

batteries in India by October 2015. The market will 

closely monitor the installation and performance of 

80,000 sets of Li-ion batteries ordered by Reliance 

Jio (a telecom company), one of the early movers 

to install Li-ion batteries to supply power to its 

telecom towers. This order was distributed among 

the companies, namely Saft, Coslight, Narada and 

Panasonic. 

There were a few companies equipped with hybrid 

inverters for residential and commercial markets. 

They claimed that the inverters can be connected to 

a DG (Diesel Generator set) power supply, solar PV 

and main supply and it can automatically select the 

best option, prioritizing the renewable energy supply. 

As the roof top solar market evolves as part of the 

100 GW solar by 2022 vision of the Power Minister, 

Mr Piyush Goyal, India will witness introduction of 

advanced hybrid inverters and PCS solutions by 

global leaders such as Siemens, Eaton, S&C, ABB 

and SMA. With Indian Government’s Make in India 

initiative, most of these companies are considering 

 

bring down costs of these solutions. 

drastic reduction of Li-ion batteries prices, and the 

price of $300 per kWh can be that point of disruption 

for various industrial and commercial energy 

storage applications. Apart from cost reductions, 

improvements in cycle life, charge – discharge 

rates (c-rate) and deeper cycling capability is also 

resulting in lower Levelized cost of energy delivered 

from advanced storage technologies. Data collected 

by IESA indicates trends which can bring down the 

Levelized cost of energy delivered from advanced 

 

 

 

economies of scale. 

Any unsafe occurrences with the installations of 

new battery technologies can hamper their market 

penetration. Hence, both manufacturers and 

installers are willing to educate the market about 

the additional battery management systems and 

maintenance which are mandatory for the new 

technologies. This shift in the market dynamics 

will also open up huge opportunities for battery 

management systems, hybrid inverter and smart 

charging appliances companies. 

With further reduction in the prices of solar PV 

and advanced storage technologies, the storage 

market might witness a big change. Other battery 

technologies like UltraBattery (a combination of 

VRLA and ultra-capacitor) and Flow batteries are 

investing time, money and efforts to gain a share in 

the big pie of over $1.3 billion annual battery storage 

market in India. The market is poised to unsettle with 

18

MARKET 

INSIGHT 

By Debi Prasad Dash, 

Manager, India Energy Storage Alliance 

Analyst, at Customized Energy Solutions 

The Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime 

Minister Mr. Narendra Modi on 25th June 2015 with 

extraordinary fanfare to transform and develop 100 

cities to become the growth engines of urban India. 

In total Central Government approved the spending 

of about INR 1 lakh core (USD $16 billion) on urban 

development under two new urban missions over the 

next 5 years. The Cabinet has approved the Smart 

Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation 

and Urban Transformation of 500 cities (AMRUT) 

with outlays of INR 48,000 crore (USD $7.7 billion) 

and INR 50,000 crore (USD $8 billion) respectively. 

Under the Smart Cities Mission, each selected 

city would get central assistance of INR 100 crore 

 

aspirants will be selected through a ‘City Challenge 

 

ability of the cities to perform to achieve the mission 

 

of smart city aspirants as per the norms to be 

indicated and they will prepare smart city proposals 

(SCP) for further evaluation for extending Central 

 

06 

Sustainable energy and smart energy 

solutions are the key factors to realise 

the vision of smart Cities in India 

This Mission of building 100 smart cities intends 

to promote adoption of smart solutions for 

 

and growing infrastructure with the objective of 

enhancing the quality of urban life and providing 

a clean and sustainable environment. It will be 

implemented through ‘area based/ location based’ 

approach and citizens participation consisting of 

 

development of new cities. Pan-city components 

 

 

reducing commuting time and carbon footprints. 

Under smart cities initiative, focus will be on 

core infrastructure services like: Adequate and 

clean Water supply, Sanitation and Solid Waste 

Management, Affordable housing for the poor, 

 

24X7 power supply, robust IT connectivity, 

e-governance and citizen participation, safety 

and security of citizens, health & education and 

sustainable urban environment. This Action Plans 

will be implemented by creating Special Purpose 

Vehicles (SPV) for each city and state governments 

will ensure steady stream of resources for SPVs with 

the support of central government. 

To implement this program, central government 

issued the guidelines for the proposal. Let’s discuss 

how sustainable energy is the key parameters 

to make this Smart Cities Mission programme 

successful. 

 

the energy requirement coming from solar power 

in the City. It will help to achieve government’s 100 

GW solar target by 2022. 

 

 

 

 

This element will encourage the adaptation of electric 

vehicle (EVs and HEVs) in SEZs and townships in the 

smart cities. Electric bus can also be implemented 

in public transit system. 

 

Management Platforms: During the presentations, 

R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM focused 

on the development of electric vehicle charging 

systems to boost the adoption of electric vehicles in 

these cities. 

19

MARKET INSIGHT 

 

Solutions: 

 

 

City proposal (SCP), central government guidelines 

 

system, which will boost solar streetlight usage in 

India. 

NASSCOM also proposed various competitive 

market mechanisms adopted in developed 

countries for the electricity sector in smart cities 

Such as: Feeder and substation automation using 

SCADA, Demand-Response Program, Adoption 

of analytics and energy simulation to optimise 

energy consumption, focus on power quality and 

integration of energy storage at grid level to solve 

grid overloading, grid management and ancillary 

services introduction. 

On the generation side, NASSCOM also proposed 

integration of energy storage for decentralised 

energy generation and on the consumer side, 

it proposed introduction of innovative business 

solutions like energy service management, electric 

infrastructure management and use of smart meters. 

 

Smart Solutions will enable cities to use technology, 

information and data to improve infrastructure 

and services. For smart solutions, smart energy 

management is a focused vertical for the government 

to implement smart cities in India. 

From these features of Smart Cities Mission, it is 

evident that the government is keen to implement 

smart solutions in energy infrastructure and 

distributed generation. To balance higher renewable 

generation and grid stability in these cities, energy 

storage market will encourage through competitive 

market development and induction of ancillary 

services. IESA expects that Large scale private 

townships, SEZs, Industrial regions will be the 

 

transportation, smart energy solutions and energy 

storage in near future. 

The India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) was 

launched in 2012 by Customized Energy Solutions 

(http://ces-ltd.com ) to promote Energy Storage and 

Micro grid technologies, along with their applications, 

in India. IESA does this by creating awareness 

among various stakeholders to make the 

20

MARKET INSIGHT 

Indian industry and power sector more competitive 

 

with the end users-as to assist with more informed 

decision making. IESA also provides insights to 

technology developers and system integrators on 

the policy landscape and business opportunities 

in India through frequent interaction with key 

stakeholders. With responses received from 

storage industries across the globe, the IESA is 

quickly gaining a strong foothold across various 

stakeholders and technology providers. For more 

details visit http://indaesa.info 

21

22

INDUSTRY 

NEWS 

07 

The New Motion to invest INR 

1000 crore for smart chargers in 

India for electric vehicles 

BY BUILDING A MANUFAC TURING 

FAC ILITY IN INDIA, WE ARE TRYING 

TO BRING DOWN THE C OST OF C HARGING, 

- R ITSAART MONTFRANS. 

The electric vehicle industry is kicking off 

 

investments, both from the industry as well as 

the government, start to pour in. New Motion, 

one of the world’s largest smart charging 

companies, is investing about Rs 1,000 crore) 

in setting up a manufacturing facility in India 

and make India its global manufacturing hub. 

“In Europe there’ll be 3 million electric vehicles 

in the coming 5 years. We expect the numbers 

in India to be much larger than that,” said 

Ritsaart Montfrans, founder and CEO at New 

Motion. “By building a manufacturing facility 

iIndia, we are trying to bring down the cost of 

charging -it needs to be affordable for India.” 

 

 

the pilot projects, that limitation is no more 

there,” he said. 

Experts feel the much needed push from the 

government would encourage people to start 

using electric bikes and cars by making them 

more cost effective. “Charging infrastructure 

will be critical for the development of the 

electric vehicle ecosystem in the country. It 

is yet to be seen if the initial Rs 1,000 crore 

 

and which cities will be able to get advantage 

from this,” said Satish RM, principal research 

analyst at Gartner. 

“The government should also mandate the 

use of electric vehicles for at least the public 

transportation to kick start the ecosystem.The 

focus for incentives should be on two-wheelers 

as that’s where the bulk of the consumption 

lies in India.” 

According to NEMMP, it is estimated that the 

government will need to provide support to 

the tune of Rs 13,000- 14,000 crore over the 

 

Source: Economic Times, April 07, 2015 

Amara Raja to expand portfolio 

in solar, defence applications. 

While charging a car using a regular power 

socket takes about 6-7 hours currently, New 

Motion’s smart chargers can charge 80% 

of the vehicle in 15-30 minutes. Montfrans 

said, based on the outcomes and the overall 

cost of manufacturing in India, the company 

would be look at selling its chargers to other 

countries from India. He also said that while 

the government has been very supportive so 

far in building the electric vehicle ecosystem 

in the country, what was lacking, so far, were 

Amara Raja Batteries is looking at expanding 

product portfolio, including applications in 

solar and Defence, to reach the top slot 

in battery industry in both industrial and 

automotive sectors, company’s vice chairman 

Jayadev Galla said today. 

He hinted that the group may also look for 

inorganic growth to become a dominant 

player in the sector. “We are also looking 

23

INDUSTRY NEWS 

at emerging applications like solar, electric 

vehicles and Defence to expand our battery 

range. Our vision is to be top global player in 

the industrial batteries and to be a dominant 

regional player in the automotive batteries 

within the next decade. 

“We explore both organic and inorganic 

opportunities to make this happen,” Galla 

said at the inaugural function of ‘Amara Raja 

Growth Corridor (ARGC)’, a 500-acre industrial 

 

company Amara Raja Batteries is currently 

enjoying 50 per cent market share in telecom 

battery segment, 30 per cent market share 

each in UPS and automotive battery segments. 

Imergy Flow Battery installed at 

GAT College in India 

The Global Academy of Technology (GAT) 

College, an engineering education institution 

in Bangalore, India, has installed Californiabased 

Imergy Power Systems’ ESP30 30 kW, 

 

solar research and testing center. 

The battery will store energy generated by 

a SunEdison 50 kW photovoltaic solar power 

system. The energy storage system, which 

provides four hours of electricity at nominal 

power, will reduce the need for GAT College to 

run diesel-fueled generators when there are 

power outages at night. 

“Today Amara Raja is among the top ten 

battery makers in the world. We are the largest 

battery manufacturers in the Indian ocean belt 

and also second largest automotive battery 

makers in the belt,” he added. According to 

him, Amara Raja Batteries has 27 sales and 

service centres and 1,500 channel partners 

across the country. It currently exports its 

products to 40 countries. 

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu 

Naidu today inaugurated the ARGC built by 

the Amara Raja Group in the state’s Chittoor 

District, about 80 kms from here. The corridor 

is expected to attract investments of over Rs 

4,500 crore in next three years, a company 

release said. Andhra Pradesh government 

will extend its cooperation to entrepreneurs 

those willing to invest in the state. The Chief 

Minister also laid foundation stone for a plastic 

moulding industry belonging to Amara Raja 

Group. 

SunEdison collaborated with the college to 

create a research and development facility at 

the Bangalore campus. The facility is used to 

study solar water pumps, storage solutions, 

hybrid systems, solar power plant monitoring 

and mounting structures. 

GAT College faculty and students will use the 

 

batteries operate and work in conjunction 

with PV solar power systems. Faculty and 

students will study how rural microgrids can 

use energy storage to optimize PV solar power 

system production and how a PV solar power 

 

under grid outage conditions. 

Source: solar Industry Magazine, June 15, 

2015 

Source: Business Standard, May 07, 2015 

24

INDUSTRY NEWS 

Global Energy Trends and 

Implications for India: Solar Will 

Be the Most Competitive Energy 

Choice 

The global energy system is in a period of rapid 

transformation: electricity plays an ever more 

important role, as do renewables, distributed 

generation and electric vehicles. Energy 

 

and growing concern. New technologies and 

business models are disrupting and challenging 

a traditionally risk-averse and slow-moving 

industry. The International Energy Agency 

(IEA) has just published its new “Energy 

Technology Perspectives” outlining the global 

trends until 2050 . Here are some of the key 

 

for India. 

Source: IEA 

The Global Context 

According to the IEA, in a 2 degrees scenario, 

solar becomes the dominant electricity 

technology by 2040, and provides 26% of 

global power generation by 2050. The IEA 

says that already today, the “impressive 

deployment of renewable technologies is 

beginning to shape a substantially different 

future in supply”. As the graph shows, if 

a reasonable price of carbon ($ 100 per 

ton of CO2, commensurate with the world 

achieving the 2 degrees goal) is added, the 

cost of solar is already very competitive – 

and it will become more competitive over 

time, overtaking combined cycle gas turbines 

(CCGT) to become the cheapest source of 

energy around 2040. 

 

cheapest source of energy by 2040 

 

secondary importance in the future energy 

system 

 

INDIA, solar and storage will become the 

drivers of India’s energy future. 

In a high solar scenario, storage will play 

a role. The IEA thinks of storage mostly as 

being part of a larger, systemically “smart”, 

 

compete with other options for managing a 

renewables-heavy power supply. The other 

options are: stronger grids, international grid 

interconnections, demand-side measures 

25

INDUSTRY NEWS 

 

Overall, the IEA sees storage as the option of 

last resort, once all other options have been 

exploited. Currently 99% of electricity storage 

is pumped in hydro storage plants. In future, 

other forms of storage (battery, mechanical 

storage, etc.) will become attractive solutions. 

Implications for India 

In India, solar and storage will likely play a 

different and a much larger role than in the 

IEA’s global analysis. Due to the weakness 

of the grid and the limited alternative energy 

sources, distributed solar plus storage will 

be an attractive solution for end-users. As 

compared to the IEA’s global scenario, the 

Indian power market will be more consumer-, 

less infrastructure-driven;; more decentralized, 

less centralized;; and see more private sector 

than government sector initiatives. It will be 

a default (local solutions to electricity supply 

shortages) rather than a design market. 

Source: The Energy Collective, May 05, 2015 

The chronicles of Ather: Building 

a smart electric bike for India 

It was September of 2014, and Ather Energy 

cofounders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain 

were running out of money. Raising venture 

capital was turning out to be impossible as 

investors weren’t willing to risk their funds 

on an idea as audacious as theirs: a smart 

electric vehicle for the Indian market. 

Some investors asked the IIT-Madras 

graduates to build an app instead, another 

suggested a hardware device, and a few 

advised doing something in the food space. 

Tired of rejections, the founders drew up a 

list of people who had succeeded in building 

unconventional companies out of India, 

 

They showed the Flipkart cofounder and group 

CEO the same presentation that had been 

rejected several times. “This pitch is clearly 

not working. What aspect of it do you think 

we should change?” asked Mehta, 25. 

“Nothing,” said Bansal without missing a beat. 

“If anything is going to get you the money, this 

will. Changing it will not help.” He promised to 

26

INDUSTRY NEWS 

introduce them to VCs, but without a product 

or customers in place, investors were still 

hesitant. The duo were running out of options 

and approached Flipkart cofounders Sachin 

Bansal and Binny Bansal again, this time to 

ask if they could invest a small sum in Ather. 

Mehta and Jain would then piggyback on the 

reputations of Sachin and Binny to raise the 

$1 million (about Rs 6 crore) they needed to 

sustain their one-year-old startup. To their 

surprise, the Flipkart founders offered to put 

in the entire money. 

There has been no looking back since. Ather 

raised $12 million (about Rs 75 crore) from 

New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global in 

May, which it plans to use to establish design 

and testing centres and an assembly line 

in Bengaluru. “They are young and open 

to experiments. I personally really liked 

Swapnil and Tarun and connected with them 

immediately. I think they have the DNA to 

succeed,” said Sachin Bansal. 

Ather’s electric scooter has a low center of 

gravity that can facilitate sharp turns and an 

aluminum chassis that makes it very light. It 

can also learn the riding patterns of riders and 

alert their kin in the case of an accident. 

The company’s team of 40, working out of a 

 

constantly experiments and builds prototypes 

aiming to put out a road-worthy vehicle by 

early 2016. “That was the prototype that got 

us funding from Sachin,” Mehta said, pointing 

to a discarded vehicle in the backyard of the 

 

than the existing vehicles today.” So how has 

Ather been able to come this far? 

 

experienced in building race cars from 

scratch. Product design head Arun Vinayak, 

24, was picked up from IIT-Madras’ FSAE 

team that participated in an international 

competition where students develop small 

Formula One-style race cars. “These are the 

guys who will achieve the goal of Make-in- 

India,” said R Krishna Kumar, professor in IIT- 

Madras’ Department of Engineering Design 

and an adviser to Ather, referring to the 

Union government’s drive to boost domestic 

manufacturing. 

Also, Ather is pitching its product as a premium 

vehicle: A high-performance two-wheeler 

delivering mileage of one kilometer for every 

4 paisa, and priced similar to the expensive 

Vespa. “They are looking to challenge the 

impression that evehicles are cheap and low 

 

— but the right strategy to help them grow,” 

said Sachin Bansal. Globally, interest in 

electric twowheelers is picking up. Gogoro, 

 

its Smartscooter will be available for preorder 

shortly and priced at about $4,100. 

Meanwhile, industry experts are beginning 

to take notice of Ather. “I am happy that 

there are entrepreneurs like them innovating 

in cleantech,” said Chetan Maini, founder of 

Reva. 

For one, it focuses on building an exceptional 

team, scouting for young automotive 

27

INTERNATIONAL 

NEWS 

Seeking to expand its business beyond electric 

vehicles, Tesla Motors will sell stationary 

batteries for residential, commercial, and 

utility use under a new brand, Tesla Energy. 

Tesla is launching the home battery business 

partly because it’s already making vehicle 

 

the economies of scale that come from making 

both. Another reason is that the market for 

storage is expected to grow in concert with the 

use of solar power. Tesla needs both electric 

vehicles and solar power to boom if it hopes 

 

billion battery “gigafactory” it’s building in 

Nevada. 

08 

Why Tesla wants to sell a battery 

for your home 

“The obvious problem with solar power is that 

the sun does not shine at night,” Tesla CEO 

Elon Musk said at the unveiling of the new 

batteries at the company’s design studio in 

Hawthorne, California, yesterday. “We need to 

store the energy that is generated during the 

day so you can use it at night.” 

A number of solar companies now offer 

batteries to accompany their solar panels 

(see “Solar Power, and Somewhere to Store 

It”). Although just a tenth of a percent of 

U.S. homes now get power from rooftop solar 

panels combined with energy storage, such 

systems could account for 3 percent of homes 

by 2018, according to Greentech Media 

Research. 

Tesla’s residential battery, called Powerwall, 

will be available in several months and will 

come in two sizes, a seven-kilowatt-hour 

battery system that costs $3,000 and a 

slightly larger 10-kilowatt-hour system for 

$3,500. The larger battery would keep an 

average-sized home running for a day. It is 

unclear what the cost of installation would be. 

Tesla expects that many sales will come from 

commercial customers who pay a variable rate 

of electricity over the course of a day based 

on demand. Such customers already see 

 

drawing on stored electricity during periods of 

peak energy demand. 

In the near term, the market for home energy 

T E SLA LAUNCHE S A STATIONA RY B ATTE RY 

A IME D AT COMPA NIE S WITH VA RIA BLE 

E L E CTRICITY R AT E S AND HOME S WITH 

SOLA R PA N E LS. 

28


storage will depend on how states regulate 

homeowners’ ability to buy and sell electricity. 

Net metering, currently available in 43 states, 

allows residential customers to sell excess 

generation back to their utility company at 

retail rates. The policies are being challenged 

by utility companies that say it undermines 

their ability to recoup grid infrastructure 

costs. But as long as net metering continues, 

consumers will have little need to buy an 

energy storage system because they can sell 

the excess solar power they generate rather 

than store it, says Jay Stein, an analyst with 

energy consulting company E Source. “I 

 

batteries,” he says. 

globally in 2013. 

Such a large investment in what is still a niche 

market is risky, but Tesla claims that the new 

factory will cut battery costs by 30 percent 

when it begins operations, as early as 2016. 

 

enough orders for the output. By 2020, the 

plant will be able to produce enough batteries 

for half a million electric vehicles per year. 

Last year, Tesla sold around20,000 cars. 

Source: solar MIT Technology Review, May 

04, 2015 

Most utilities that offer net metering, however, 

also allow residential customers to buy and sell 

electricity at rates that vary throughout the 

day based on demand. Battery storage would 

allow such people to maximize the value of the 

electricity they sell back to the utility. “There 

are some arbitrage values emerging,” says 

Karl Rábago, executive director of the Pace 

Energy and Climate Center in White Plains, 

New York. “If I could export selectively, using 

a storage device, I might beget higher value 

for my generation.” 

Home energy storage will make more 

sense in the years to come. Residential and 

commercial solar-plus-storage systems will 

offer a clear cost advantage over electricity 

from the grid throughout the United States 

by 2030, according to a recent report by the 

Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy research 

and consulting group. 

Tesla’s Nevada gigafactory, which it’s building 

with Panasonic, will have an annual production 

capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours by 2020, more 

than all the lithium-ion batteries produced 

29


Integrated Energy Storage: An 

Answer to Addressing the Duck 

Curve? 

AS UTILITIES AROUND THE WORLD GRAPPLE 

WITH DECLINING UTILISATION FROM 

WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF DISTRIBUTED 

SOLAR, INTEGRATED STORAGE SOLUTIONS 

BEHIND-THE-METER MAY FLATTEN THE LOAD 

CURVE AND CREATE VALUE FOR CUSTOMERS 

AND UTILITIES ALIKE. 

quick search of the internet reveals numerous articles 

outlining the challenges posed by accelerated 

uptake of distributed renewables, in particular 

changing utility load curves and the much-maligned 

“duck curve.” Yet, for all the technical and economic 

challenges posed by solar widening the wedge 

between typical day-time energy consumption 

and evening peak consumption, distributed energy 

storage — when paired with an intelligent integration 

 

duck curve and increase the overall value delivered 

to participants across the system. 

A 

Facing issues such as those characterized by 

the duck curve, agile, forward-thinking utilities 

are coming to understand that one key to future 

prosperity lies in adopting new technologies such 

as integrated energy storage which can help them 

balance customers’ increasing desires to install 

distributed generation with the need for better 

leveraging of existing utility assets. 

So, exactly what role can integrated storage play 

 

 

consumers? 

Let’s take the example of a typical 3-MW distribution 

 

 

Impact of Integrated Energy Storage on Duck Curve; 

3MW Feeder 

Curves for successive years assume continued solar 

uptake consistent with historical growth in solar 

deployments. Unabated, we can see a widening of 

the gap due to reduced daytime demand, uptake 

of solar PV and evening demand peaks. These 

30


factors combine and result in a worsening of asset 

utilization and load factor; from the years 2012 to 

2020 load factors decline by 19 percent on a relative 

basis. 

 

indicative feeder deployed solar integrated storage 

(SIS), optimized for the timing and consumption 

of their stored capacity, the peaks and troughs 

 

load factor increases by 17 percent and the ramp 

rate for evening peak is reduced by 59 percent, 

demonstrating how deployment if integrated storage 

can enable far superior utilization of the assets and 

 

Hidden in the above numbers, though, is another 

potentially important consideration for utilities 

— deferral of transmission and distribution 

infrastructure costs. 

The outlook for utilities faced with the duck chart 

phenomenon — increasing network costs and 

declining demand — is troubling and an unenviable 

strategic position for any business. But what if 

customer-sited energy storage could be aggregated 

and orchestrated in concert through an integrated 

 

and minimizes, or avoids, unnecessary grid 

expenditures? 

Moving excess solar generation to peak times 

through an orchestrated energy storage platform 

 

chain including avoided network and generation 

augmentation, reduced losses and improvements in 

voltage and power quality. 

Demand peak reduction is not the only issue 

of concern, though. Excess residential solar 

generation causes voltage instability and power 

quality problems which utilities also have to invest 

resources in order to deal with. These investments 

include additional control and measurement 

equipment, transformers, static compensators and 

transmission line upgrades. As illustrated above, 

applying intelligent integrated energy storage aids 

in smoothing the curve and reducing demand peaks 

to prior year levels. This enables utilities to defer 

corrective costs and focus their investment where 

 

energy consumer, customers could be rewarded 

 

demand through a lower utility cost base and thus 

lower tariffs. 

Customer-sited, Utility-controlled Solutions 

 

address the duck curve with storage technology, 

Sunverge subscribes to the belief that intelligent 

energy storage assets located on the customer-side 

of the meter, but utility-controlled, offers a most 

 

address high penetrations of renewables. 

To be effective, such systems must allow storage 

assets to be dynamically aggregated, tailoring 

 

their control orchestrated in concert as if they were 

a single Virtual Power Plant. Expanded further, such 

aggregations of behind-the-meter energy storage 

might serve different purposes for the utility at any 

given time; some may be orchestrated to provide 

voltage support at the end of a long feeder while 

others can be controlled to provide frequency 

regulation or other ancillary services. 

To accommodate integration with utility IT 

infrastructure, data analytics platforms, smartgrid 

and microgrid system architectures, and smart home 

energy management systems, energy storage control 

systems must be intelligent and, ideally, cloudbased 

so as to allow for seamless communication 

across multiple technology platforms and real-time 

control of grid assets according to utility rule sets. 

Already a proven approach to improving 

the safety, reliability and performance of 

31


the grid, customer-sited integrated energy storage 

platforms offer huge promise for cost-effectively 

addressing the issues represented by the duck 

curve as well as a host of other challenges faced by 

 

along the energy supply chain. 

 

of cell stack and energy storage tank avoids any 

 

 

easy implementation without any battery safety 

 

Multi-hour usage capacity and robust technology 

Redflow enters the European 

energy storage market with flow 

battery 

REDFLOW EUROPE GMBH (MUNICH, GERMANY), 

PROVIDER OF ENERGY STORAGE FLOW 

BATTERIES, HAS ANNOUNCED ITS ENTRY INTO 

THE EUROPEAN MARKET. REDFLOW IS THE FIRST 

ENERGY STORAGE COMPANY TO ENTER LARGE- 

SCALE COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURING THROUGH 

GLOBAL GIANT, FLEXTRONICS, THE COMPANY 

Source: Renewable Energy World, April 09, 2015 

“As we expand worldwide, we know our battery 

technology is ideal for applications required by the 

European market, such as on and off grid remote 

rural power, telecommunications BTS sites, utility 

energy, commercial applications, and renewable 

 

cost-effective and innovative technology provides 

 

battery technologies, such as high energy density 

with a small footprint, 100 percent depth of discharge 

usage capacity, no active cooling required, and 

inherently safe design.” 

EMPHASIZES. 

R 

multi-hour use such as time of day energy shifting 

for use during peak time periods. Thus, they resolve 

the intermittency inherent to renewable energy. 

 

tolerance allows up to 50 degrees Celsius. With no 

 

 

100 percent depth of discharge, which is ideal for 

unstable grids and renewable energy sources. 

“This characteristic prevents battery damage 

from power outages, unlike traditional battery 

 

shelf life fully discharged with no maintenance 

required. In addition, no trickle charge is necessary 

 

the energy throughput of its products,” reads the 

press release. 

Source: Solar Server, June 25, 2015 

Inherently safe and smart design 

Zinc-bromide electrolyte is water-based and 

 

addition, the intelligent battery technology selfmanages, 

self-protects, and informs via remote 

32

ENERGY STORAGE INDIA 

2014 

33

Generation Solution 

Comprehensive hosted software and generation service solution, CES-GOLD. 

Demand Response 

Hosted solutions with notifications to the end use customers. CES-GREEN 

Emerging 

Technologies 

Proactive forward thinking, that can help you for the future 

Retail Solutions 

Comprehensive end to end hosted solutions. CES-BLUE 

Established in 1998, Customized Energy Solutions assists clients in 

managing and staying ahead of the changes in the wholesale and retail 

electricity and natural gas markets. 

Serving hundreds of clients, Customized Energy Solutions offers 

best-in-class hosted energy market operations platforms and services. 

For more info: http://www.ces-ltd.in

Join IESA to gain insights and access to one of the fastest 

growing energy storage and microgrid markets. 

Be part of the largest networking event for energy storage 

and microgrid industry in India, Energy Storage India. For 

more details visit www.esiexpo.in 

IESA 


Strategic Partners 

IESA Members 

Contact: 

Dr. Rahul Walawalkar 

Executive Director, India Energy Storage Alliance 

www.indiaesa.info 

Email: contact@indiaesa.info 

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