IESW 2022: Advanced energy storage has a significant demand potential in the Indian market

Emphasizing the significant demand potential for advanced energy storage technologies in the Indian market, Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President of IESA and MD of CES (India) kickstarted India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2022, the premier industry event aimed at accelerating the adoption of energy storage, e-mobility, green hydrogen, and microgrids.

The Day 1 of week long conference & expo, began with  Dr. Walawalkar opening the stage for discussion on various aspects of technical parameters, range of applications, material selection for energy storage, and challenges about reliability and safety of IESW 2022 in New Delhi.

"We are excited that it is not just the four companies who are selected for the ACC PLI scheme incentives, but we expect at least five other companies or possibly 10 companies to establish ACC battery manufacturing in India," Dr. Walawalkar said.

"The focus is also on strengthening the local supply chain."

IESA has set a vision for building on the ACC PLI scheme to reach a manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh by 2027 in the country. The alliance's vision is to expand cell manufacturing capacity to 100 GWh by 2030 and to 500 GWh by 2035.

Speaking on the material chemistry of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage and EV applications, Dr. Venkateshwarlu Manne of Amara Raja Batteries (R&D – Li-ion Technology) spoke in detail on the advances and limitations of various Li-ion chemistries.

He noted that the NMC and LFP chemistries are commercially viable, and intensive research efforts are required to innovate new materials for breakthrough technologies, including low-cobalt or cobalt-free and high-voltage cathode materials. He suggested that NCA chemistry is fairly good for high-performance applications, although safety continues to be a strong challenge for NCA.

"Battery material and chemistry is an imperative factor. No single combination of chemistry types can suit all applications and requirements. We have to choose the right parameters according to the priorities of an application for the selection of the battery technology and material chemistry. We may have to compromise on certain other parameters, and bank on alternatives or off-setting models, for instance, battery swapping infrastructure in case of affordable EVs", Dr. Manne said.

Moreover, he urged that the industry develop alternative energy storage technologies using sodium, magnesium, aluminum, and other metals to meet the growing demand for batteries and reduce the load on li-ion batteries for sustainability.

On stationary energy storage, Dr. Matthias Vetter, Head of Department (Electrical Energy storage) at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Germany spoke on the challenges of increasing electrical requirements in heavy loaded commercial and industrial distribution grids.

"Large-scale system integration of fluctuating renewable energies require storage, therefore an accelerated market growth for stationary storage can be expected in the coming years", he said while noting that regulatory framework is lagging in many countries.

He added that advanced battery technologies are quite scalable, and key factors that determine technologies and project evaluation are safety, reliability, performance, and aging. Appropriate and holistic quality assurance measures are key for risk mitigation, he said.

The annual flagship conference and exhibition organized by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) hosted various workshops and site tours on Day 1 of IESW 2022.

The following were excerpts from the Workshop on Advanced Energy Storage Technologies & Applications. The article is compiled by Asst. Editor, ETN, Shraddha Kakade, and Editorial Correspondent, ETN, Dhiyanesh Ravichandran. 

India Energy Storage Week 2022 is a premier industry event aimed at accelerating the adoption of energy storage, e-mobility, green hydrogen, and microgrids.

The hybrid expo & conference is being held in New Delhi from May 2 to May 6, 2022.

To participate in IESW 2022, visit - www.iesw.in