Italy-headquartered solar inverter manufacturer FIMER supplied 1MVA inverters to a solar-plus-storage project with a 18MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Gujarat, India.
FIMER supplied its inverters to the Integrated Solar Energy Project in Modhera, a town in the district of Mehsana. The project belongs to Indian solar PV engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) solution provider Mahindra Susten and was awarded by the state’s utility, Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL).
The project can be split into two parts. It pairs various distributed solar resources in the town totalling around 420kW of power generation with 150kWh BESS, plus a standalone 6MW/18MWh BESS with a 6MW grid connection.
FIMER claimed the project is one of the largest BESS in India in operation to-date and makes the town of Modhera, which has a population of around 7,000, totally self-reliant for electricity.
The Milan-based firm supplied a power conversion system (PCS) of 1MVA x 6 nos for the project. It said that during hours of solar production the solar inverter provides power to the local grid and any excess charges the BESS. The PCS can also support load demand during periods of solar deficits.
FIMER’s PCS is also equipped with a black start mode for when the local grid fails and grid-following mode for when the grid comes back, acting as a back-up when required. It is the first 1MW bidirectional converter supplied to the Indian market, FIMER claimed.
KN Sreevatsa, country managing director at FIMER India, said: “At FIMER, we believe not only in providing tailormade solutions for the customer’s maximum benefit, but we also like to ‘Make a difference’ to their lives. We fully support our PM’s (prime minister) vision of making small towns and cities self-sustainable and we are glad to be a part of this remarkable project.”
The Indian battery energy storage market is poised for massive growth, for both standalone and hybrid generation-plus-storage applications, with the country targeting 500GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Modelling from the national Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has found India is likely to need about 27GW/108GWh of non-pumped hydro energy storage by that time.
Energy-Storage.news reported today that Indian state-owned power producer NTPC’s renewable energy subsidiary is launching a 500MWh battery storage tender, following a similar recent move by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Various market rules and regulations have been adjusted or rewritten in recent months as the country’s union government seeks to support and accelerate energy storage deployment. Various international players such as Fluence, Powin Energy and GE Renewable Energy have been enticed into joining the Indian market or increased their existing involvement based on those strong fundamental drivers.