Suresh Prabhu Emphasises India’s Ambitious Renewable Generation Target

India is on the path to become the largest market for advanced energy storage technologies within the next 5 years. With a vision to further accelerate the growth in the energy and e-mobility sector, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), India’s leading alliance on energy storage & e-mobility is currently hosting its annual virtual conference and exhibition - India Energy Storage Week (IESW) from 3rd - 6th November along with Pre – Conference Workshops held on November 02, 2020.

Speaking at the event today, Shri Suresh Prabhu, India's Sherpa to G20 & G7, Member of Parliament, highlighting India's vision to emerge as Global energy best stated  "Energy storage is an important aspect of the electricity mix in the country, bringing new dynamics in the energy spectrum. India has an ambitious renewable generation, making it carbon-neutral in the upcoming time. India has embarked upon an ambitious target of 100000 MWH  Solar and 75000 MWH Wind. However, challenges are there and it can be met with efficient energy storage technology. Storage is going to be a new thrust area. I am happy that we will be discussing energy storage in-depth with industry pioneers, think-tanks, Policymakers, Global Leaders at the IESW to further propagate the  Atma Nirbhar Bharat vision of our honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Shri Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, Secretary, The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, added - " The renewable energy sector is quite fragmented. It involves numerous sectors within itself. We are moving towards a major share of RE in the electricity mix and will only accelerate further. The government is working on giving the boost with the various programs as far as R&D is concerned. Energy storage is critical for the development of RE. Our electricity system as a whole has the ability to accommodate a larger amount of RE. This accommodation is cheaper than a more dispatchable power distribution. IESW will be incredibly valuable in answering this burning question as well as addressing some key issues"

Talking about the broad overview of the government's National Mission for Transformative Mobility & Battery Storage, Aman Hans, Public Private Partnership Specialist, Consultant, NITI Aayog, stated, “I am sure everyone has been hearing a lot about the national programme of battery storage which NITI aayog has been spearheading for quite some time now. Because of the unforeseen developments over the years, there has surely been a delay but I would like to reassure the markets and all the stakeholders that things are very much on track. Not just the battery storage, the government is now charting out an umbrella program to give a thrust to a lot of manufacturing sectors. We have seen huge success with the mobile manufacturing program launched under ‘Make in India’, attracting global giants to manufacture and invest in India. We now aim to replicate the success in the Battery storage segment.”

“In India, nobody currently has the experience of manufacturing Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC). We are therefore promoting investments into the gigafactories with a prospective approach rather than a retrospective one.” he further added.

Mr Debi Prasad Dash, Executive Director, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), emphasized the requirement of indigenous manufacturing of components & advanced battery cells and requested the government to bring appropriate policy for advanced energy storage manufacturing and demand-side incentives. “This is also an appropriate time for the government to focus on the safety and standards of advanced energy storage technologies and create a suitable framework for recycling and batteries' second life. With the rise in renewables, grid complexity, development of rural & urban Microgrids, adoption of electric mobility: the Indian energy storage sector need to focus on the following three aspects, Skill development & capacity building in energy storage & EV technologies, R&D - innovation on advanced energy storage & EV technologies and policy consistency by state and central government. This is a unique opportunity for Indian conglomerates and MSMEs and start-ups to showcase their innovation & engineering capabilities in this sun-rise energy storage and electric mobility sector.India Energy Storage Week (IESW) is becoming an annual thought-exchange, networking, and business platform for global industry leaders, policymakers, researchers and business professionals.”, he said.

Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President & MD, Customized Energy Solutions (CES) India, stated, “The policy framework has evolved quite a lot in the last five years, the technology price curve has been amazing but we cannot be waiting for the manufacturing cost to come down and keep on delaying the process. We are almost on the verge of missing out this opportunity for manufacturing while we are debating on finer nuances of policy framework.  Many of the investments that should have come to India in the past 12 months have already been committed to Europe as both the government and auto industry have come together.  I really hope NITI Aayog will get the final nod from the cabinet for the giga factory mission this month and when we start 2021, we will be discussing how we will be implementing the mission rather than when it will be launched.”

With an intent to facilitate international trade, the eighth edition of IESA annual conference is seeing global partnerships from 20+ countries, 50+ regulators & policy makers, 300+ industry leaders, 50+ partners & exhibitors, and 2000+ delegates.  The conference is a dedicated effort towards bringing the key stakeholders together to make India a global hub for R&D and manufacturing. The vision is backed by eminent dignitaries from NITI Aayog, Department of Science & Technology (DST), The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and many more.

India Energy Storage Week (IESW) is a flagship international conference & expo by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), being held from 2nd – 6th November Virtual Conference And Exhibition. It is India’s premier B2B networking & business event focused on renewable energy, advanced batteries, alternate energy storage solutions, electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and micro grids ecosystem.