Wind and solar are various renewable energies. They generate electricity according to the elements, regardless of consumer needs. Either way, in India, operators have to manage so that they supply electricity on a permanent basis. How can they do it?

The Indian government wants electricity from renewable sources, but not the downside. So, to address the variability of wind and solar power, it just launched a very tight tender call. Across Indian Solar Energy Company (SECI), a state-owned company responsible for guiding the development of “green” energy, requires candidates to generate 100% renewable electricity without interruption.

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Stock or hybridization?

According to the call for tender, which covers 2.25 GW of the new project, operators must use all available means to make their wind farms and solar fields fully controllable. To do this, they will be able to operate storage systems: batteries, STEP and CAES (compressed air in underground cavities), among others.

To ensure more constant production, they will also be able to “hybridize” the means of production. This technique consists, for example, of combining solar gardens with wind farms and/or hydro or biomass power plants. Within the framework of this call for tender, storage systems and various gardens can be located in different places.

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Models to export to Europe?

To be eligible, each candidate must submit a project with a minimum power of 250 MW. If elected, will benefit from guaranteed electricity sales tariffs for 25 years.

The Indian government’s initiative may seem surprising from Europe, where the construction of solar and wind farms has never depended on the existence of storage systems. This type of call for tender may be an effective way to intensify the development of electricity storage in the Old Continent, which is sorely lacking.

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