India's First Commercial Battery Energy Storage System to Launch Soon

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) The country's first commercially-approved standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) capable of four-hour daily supply being set up at Kilokri in South Delhi will become functional soon, power company BSES said on Monday.

Under the project, out of 12 liquid cooled batteries, nine have been installed and the rest will be installed shortly. It is likely to go live from end of March or early next month, it said.

The 20 MW BESS is being installed at 33 KV sub-station of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) at Kilokri.

Once deployed, the system will improve power supply covering one lakh residents of Kilokri, a heavily congested, low income area in South Delhi, BSES said in a statement.

The 20 MW cluster of batteries are capable of providing four hours of power every day- two hours each during the day and at night. The project is being implemented in partnership with IndiGrid and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), it said.

It is the country's first commercially approved standalone BESS at the distribution end which will contribute to clean energy transition and integration of renewable energy integration, the statement said.

The project has a life span of 12 years and will use Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries that are considered most advanced, it said.

The BESS is designed to handle the extreme variations in electricity demand, improve power supply, enhance grid stability, and integrate renewable energy and over-network overloading , it said.

The system will be charged during off-peak hours with surplus or low cost power available, which will be supplied (discharged) during time of peak power demand. This will help savings in power purchase costs by avoiding costly market purchase during the period of peak power demand.

The BESS project of BRPL has a comprehensive monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan aimed at sharing key insights and experiences with other discoms, state regulators and power sector stakeholders, it added.