Singareni plans battery energy storage to use solar power at night

A solar power plant with battery energy storage system that can store unused solar power generated during the day.
| Photo Credit: Representational picture

HYDERABAD

The solar power generation wing of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has taken up a pilot project to store unused solar energy in batteries for use later.

According to Chairman and Managing Director of the company N. Balaram, they are establishing a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) with one-megawatt capacity in the 28 MW capacity solar power plant in Mandamarri area. On becoming functional, the facility would save energy worth ₹13 lakh every month or ₹1.6 crore every year.

Based on the success of the pilot project, the company is planning to have another 2 MW battery energy storage system to check energy wastage and in monetary terms, the savings or earnings would be ₹4.8 crore a year.

He also said that SCCL had established a 28 MW solar power plant in the Mandamarri area in 2021 as a captive plant and the energy generation from the plant is being used for the needs of 11 underground and four opencast mines in Mandamarri and Srirampur areas.

Against the generation of 34,000 units of energy on an average every day from the plant, only about 14,000 units were being consumed and another 20,000 units were going waste on account of lunch breaks for workers and non-usage of machinery during such breaks. However, it was being supplied to the Northern Discom (TGNPDCL) free of cost by connecting to the grid – a local sub-station.

To make use of the 20,000 units of energy from the Mandamarri solar plant going waste every day/free supply to the Discom the company is establishing a one-megawatt BESS facility on a pilot basis. The work was given to Kanpur-based Mars India Antennas & RF Systems Private Ltd and the installation of batteries would be complete soon. The facility would allow the energy unused during the day-time to be used in the night time from drawing from batteries.

The facility is being established at a cost of ₹2.5 crore and would be recovered in less than two years. The Mandamarri area was paying energy bills of ₹9 crore a month following establishment of the 28 MW solar power plant and with the BESS systems, savings on energy bills would be another ₹4.8 crore, the CMD explained.