Batteries for energy storage
A system-scale batteries would assist in storing this extra solar energy and supplying power to the grid at times of peak demand, which is now handled by coal-fired power plants a recent analysis predicted that India’s battery energy storage system would increase exponentially (BESS). In order to combat the intermittent nature of renewable energy, BESS, one of the important emerging technologies in the Indian renewable energy market, can provide both peak-time power supply and 24-hour electricity Grid-scale batteries would aid in storing this extra solar energy and supplying the grid with electricity during times of peak demand, which is now handled by coal-fired power plants, as the grid’s demand is lower in the afternoon.
Seven of these prospective projects were identified in the country by the study conducted by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a think tank with American roots, and released on January 18, 2023. Three of these are projects for standalone battery storage, allowing them to be employed in accordance with the demands of distribution firms “In the coming years, the market for storage assets in India will expand dramatically. A single BESS asset has a number of value streams associated with it. There will be plenty of investment opportunities as the market for these assets grows, technology matures, and financing gets better, the report predicted.
A renewable energy firm, Greenko Energy, won the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited’s tender for a 3,000 MWh energy storage project in December 2022. A standalone battery storage project with a capacity of 250MW/500M Wh was announced by NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd, a division of NTPC Limited, last year the remaining projects are either hybrid ones that mix solar and wind power with storage, or they are designed to meet peak demand. A 500 MW hybrid project with 250 MWh of energy storage capacity was put out to bid by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam. The paper mentioned one such hybrid project and said the storage capacity aims to meet six hours of peak demand in the morning and evening.
“The frequency of the power supply at 50 hertz is considered to be the balance point for the Indian grid. According to co-author and Energy Finance Analyst at IEEFA Shantanu Srivastava, “Coal-fired power stations now balance the grid by ramping up or down electricity supply based on unrequisitioned capacity However, Srivastava continued, battery energy storage technologies can balance the grid in a matter of seconds, whereas coal-fired power stations take far longer.
Several national policies support the need for setting up BESS projects and made provisions to enable the same. The Ministry of Power (MoP) notified bidding guidelines for the procurement and utilisation of BESS March 11, 2022. India’s draft national electricity plan released in September 2022 highlighted the importance of battery storage in the overall energy mix if India has to depend more on renewable energy. The plan made projections of 51.5 GW of BESS installations by 2031-2032. In January 2022, the Central Regulatory Electricity Commission formulated new regulations for ancillary services, which are required to maintain the voltage and frequency of the grid at safe limits, a key feature of the BESS, particularly for balancing intermittencies of wind and solar power.On June 21 2021, the MoP ordered the waiver of interstate transmissions system charges for battery storage and pumped hydro systems commissioned until June 2025. This would enable a seamless supply across states.
On July 22, 2022, the MoP also published a trajectory of Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO) through 2029–2030, which for the first time also contained trajectories for energy storage obligations.
For the battery business, the Production Linked Incentive scheme provides incentives for building a localized value chain. The National Programme on ACC Battery Storage involves funding commitments of Rs 181 billion for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries.
Srivastava stated to DTE:
The PLI system is technology independent, allowing for the use of several modern battery chemistries. India lacks access to key technology needed for its manufacturing because lithium-ion is the predominant form of BESS chemistry. As a result, industry participants may potentially consider developing capacity for alternate chemistries such those based China, Europe, and Australia, according to the IEEFA report There is still more to be built, such as a variety of services for storage systems, even though these projects are just the first stage.
The importance of equity was emphasized by Rohan Paul, an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. People who are disadvantageous should also benefit from technology, he continued.People with disabilities, for example, have particular needs. Paul emphasized that “we must be kind and devise procedures to ensure that their needs are also satisfied.”According to other experts, energy is essential to India’s development. Ajay Kumar Kushwaha, an associate professor at IIT Indore, stated that it is the driving force behind our economy. Consumption and prosperity are closely tied, he continued.The International Energy Agency states that India uses less energy per person than the typical country worldwide (IEA) This was also approved by Arya. He clarified that improving vital industries like infrastructure, agriculture, and exports requires power.
Imports According to IEA data, coal, oil, and solid biomass account for over 80% of India’s energy requirements.”We need to use more renewable energy. We can advance if 50% of our electricity is renewable (solar and wind), 20% is nuclear, 20% is fossil fuel, and 10% is hydroelectric, according to Arya’s estimation.
The nation should think about progress in all fields, from fabrication to design. Paul emphasized that if another country designs a product and we are only involved in fabrication, India’s value will decline the revenue earned decreases as a result since value is linked to wealth, he continued. Also read: Why aren’t there more women in science in India. Data is required to respond to that, experts sayAccording to Shailendra Kaddre, product analytics lead at HP Inc., India should focus its investments over the next 25 years on initiatives that would assist it provide for the basic necessities of its population He emphasized that 26% of the population live below the international poverty level and that 24% of people are still uneducated. We must make investments in ending hunger, he remarked education is also
At a time when consumers are trying to save money, storage uses a lot of power. Storage providers are responding with new platforms and initiatives that aim to address both financial and environmental issues.According to Steve McDowell, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, data centers may use more than 3% of the world’s electricity by 2025. Up to 30% of a data center’s overall power consumption comes from storage the calculations show that storage uses around 1% of the world’s overall energy usage, according to McDowell.
Storage [vendors] are releasing more platforms and cutting-edge technologies, he claimed, making storage less energy-intensive and hence more sustainable.However, consumers are now venturing into uncharted economic territory, and it is unclear how this will effect sustainability efforts. It can revert to keeping the lights on, or they might rearrange their justifications to place more emphasis on how spending money on energy-efficient equipment can save costs the various sustainability messages from storage vendors are another aspect that clients will need to address. Each company claims that their products have a compelling environmental story to tell, but sometimes just through a narrow lens.
Flash reduces density and power use.
Depending on how a client views the technology, each of the three main types of storage — flash, HDDs, and tape — could offer environmental advantages to a business. Vendors of flash memory provide lengthy lifecycles, excellent performance, and minimal power. HDDs offer high density at a reasonable price, reducing overall power requirements. When tape is densely packed, it uses little electricity According to Mukesh Ranjan, an analyst at Everest Group, storage is one of the key components of IT and frequently takes a backseat. However, it also makes excessive use of power.
The technique must be effective, reducing overall power usage while boosting performance and capacity, according to Ranjan Analyst for Architecting IT Chris Evan C. S. Evans According to Chris Evans, an analyst at the UK-based research business Architecting IT, clients should take into account both the rising cost of energy and the amount of power storage used Power prices have increased, particularly in the UK, he noted. Companies desire [hardware] that will be efficient if they wish to upgrade or update their systems.Two significant all-flash providers, Pure Storage and Vast Data, have recently begun highlighting the increased energy efficiency of SSD technology over HDDs.
In 2022, Pure published its first environmental, social, and governance report. This report indicated that because of Pure’s flash storage’s denser construction, it uses around 80% less energy than other flash providers When you consider the big scale [flash storage] deployment, even tiny power reductions are significant, according to Ranjan.Regarding flash power savings, Vast Data has presented a similar defense. According to Vast’s own 2022 sustainability study, high-density SSDs consume around one-third fewer watts per terabyte than 20 TB HDDs. It further asserts that its flash has a lifespan twice as long as HDDs, prolonging the time between hardware replacements An all-flash 5 PB was compared in Vast’s report. Dell EMC PowerScale hybrid 5 PB cluster with a large Universal Storage cluster
The claim that flash technology uses less energy than HDDs is not new. HDDs have historically offered lower acquisition costs and higher power utilization, but flash offers higher performance at a lower power draw. But Pure and Vast are emphasizing this part of flash and launching fresh initiatives and rewards for clients. Pure1, its data management as a service offering, introduced a new sustainability evaluation capability in September 2022. The tool evaluates the energy use and carbon production of a customer’s storage appliances and offers suggestions for reducing both With its sustainability guarantee, Vast is adopting a different approach. If a client could have saved money on energy by using someone else, Vast will make up the difference in carbon offset credits. The warranty includes initial data storage.
HDDs can contribute to sustainability.
Older storage methods like HDDs and tape are contributing their own sustainability advantages. Customers should consider a complete life assessment for HDDs when it comes to power consumption, according to Xiaodong Che, CTO of Western Digital’s HDD business segment “Flash storage is more effective in terms of I/O. However, manufacturing SSDs uses a lot more energy than HDD manufacturing, “added he Storage [vendors] are releasing additional platforms and cutting-edge technologies that will reduce energy consumption and increase sustainability Forrester Research Analyst, Abhijit Sunil Western Digital published its own sustainability report in December 2022 to demonstrate its efforts in lowering energy use and emissions. The document emphasized that since 2017, emissions from its production process had decreased by over 40%. The vendor has also increased its use of renewable energy while simultaneously reducing its energy consumption when manufacturing goods by 13% during the past two years.
The senior vice president of product management and marketing for HDDs at Western Digital, Ravi Pendekanti, claims that HDDs can also present a distinct total cost of ownership (TCO) justification. He advises clients to consider the energy savings 26 TB HDD can offer in terms of fewer arrays, racks, and overall power usage — even within its own product line — rather than focusing on the energy savings from a single device.
When comparing Western Digital’s 20 TB to 26 TB HDD drives, which were released in 2022, Pendekanti said: “Going from 20 TB to 26 TB will save users a lot of electricity, as it is getting more expensive A more convincing argument for the sustainability of HDDs may be made by considering the production of storage, according to Jeff Fochtman, senior vice president of business and marketing at Seagate. The majority of emissions are caused by the production process and raw ingredients, he said. “You would next examine power and TCO use downstream He added that considering how to combine the two media types rather than simply comparing them may be more beneficial because they both offer unique advantages in terms of density and performance High power consumption, as well as several storage tiers, are required for various use cases, he added.
“What’s old is new again”
LTO tape, in particular, offers a unique sustainability angle to offer. According to recent research from Enterprise Strategy Group, a part of TechTarget, tape could reduce carbon emissions by 6.5 times since it doesn’t utilize power unless it is being written to or read from According to Christophe Bertrand, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, the density of the tape is just as crucial as the fact that it remains inert when not in use. Over time, tape density has increased while maintaining the same form factor, and the LTO Program anticipates reaching 1.4 PB in about 10 years.