Storage demand for renewable energy, says Technavio
Technavio analysts forecast the off-grid energy storage market in India to grow at a CAGR of more than 15% during the forecast period, according to their latest report.
The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the off-grid energy storage market in India for 2017-2021. The market is segmented based on end-user (residential and non-residential) and technology (lead-acid and Li-ion).
India is one of the high potential countries for off-grid power systems where reliable grids do not exist.
This is owing to the lack of adequate Transmission and Distribution infrastructure and low electrification rate.
Off-grid power systems such as mini-grids with storage are sought after power source for rural electrification as they can be deployed at a faster pace when compared with developing/extending the grid structure.
This is increasing energy storage demand as most of the off-grid power systems are renewable based and require a battery to smoothen the intermittent power generation from renewable sources.
Electricity consumption is proportional to the economic development of a country. Though it is a complex relationship, electricity is a pre-requisite and a strategic component necessary for economic growth, driving infrastructure and social development.
Thanikachalam Chandrasekaran, a lead energy storage research analyst at Technavio, says, “A majority of the population in developing countries, especially in rural areas, lack access to grid power, thereby indirectly impacting the economic growth of a country.”
According to the IEA, as of 2016, India accounted for the highest population without electricity in all Developing Asia.
The national electrification rate was 81%, and about 244 million people lacked access to electricity in 2016.
The rural electrification rate in 2016 was only 74%, whereas the urban electrification rate was 96%.”
There has been an unprecedented growth in the global telecom sector. Telecom operators have been installing new BTS to support the explosion in traffic.
According to the World Bank, the mobile subscription per 100 persons increased from 88 in 2010 to 105 in 2014, which is expected to drive the need for installation of additional BTS to provide better coverage, globally.
“This has resulted in telecom towers to be installed in remote locations where a major portion of the telecom towers is powered using diesel generators in off-grid sites,” said Thanikachalam.
“It is estimated that as of 2016, there were close to 0.45 million telecom towers in India, wherein more than 50% of the towers were not connected to the grid and rather depended on alternate power sources,” he added.
Renewable sources such as wind, hydro, and solar are intermittent in nature, which reduces their potential as standalone power systems.
Using these resources in a hybrid form overcomes this issue and enables a continuous, reliable power supply.
This has boosted their wide-spread adoption as on-site power production, especially in remote areas.
Also, vendors are developing new products to increase the adoption of decentralized power generation systems.
Realizing the potential off-grid energy storage possesses when combined with PV, at the COP21 meeting held at Paris in 2015, India announced that it would meet 40% of its energy requirements using renewable energy sources by the year 2030.
In several measures taken by the government to meet the target, in June 2016, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy set a draft wherein it proposed the installation of at least 10,000 renewable-based microgrids and mini grids in the country.
This is expected to boost the growth of off-grid energy storage systems in the country, said Technavio. fii-news.com
