World News: Andaman to go green with India’s first solar storage power plant

NEW DELHI: The Andaman & Nicobar Islands – long fabled among holidaymakers for legendary beaches, world-class diving and far-flung location in the middle of nowhere, will soon have something else to boast of – the country's first city-scale battery storage solar power plants.

India's largest generation utility NTPC will set up two solar storage plants with a total capacity of 25 mega watt in the main island of Port Blair as part of the Narendra Modi government's bid to rid the tourist hotspot of polluting diesel generators, its main source of power at present.

The size of the storage solar power plants in Andamans will open a new avenue for bringing 24X7 power supply to remote locations, a key promise made by the Narendra Modi government. At present, some remote villages in Ladakh and other hill states have storage solar power plants but they are miniscule in comparison with capacities ranging between 11kw and 125kw.

The storage solar power plan comes in the backdrop of Petronet LNG's ongoing discussions with the Andaman administration for a floating facility to import liquid gas for converting generators to the less-polluting fuel.

According to the plan agreed between NTPC and the Andaman administration, one plant with 8 MW capacity would be constructed at Chiria Tapu and the other with a capacity of 17 MW will come up at Manglu Tan. Both locations are in Port Blair, the main island. Both will be linked to the Port Blair grid.

The Centre, through the ministry of new and renewable energy, will meet 40% of the costs through grant meant for special areas. The ministry has asked NTPC to set up a total of 50 MW solar storage capacity in phases.

Officials involved with the project declined to disclose the estimated project cost, saying the final cost will be known after the bids come in within the next 5-6 months. The project is estimated to be completed by June 2018 or so, with a 15-month completion schedule.

Most of the government's solar power thrust is focused on non-storage units connected to the grid as the tariff from storage systems are high. But the non-storage plants operate only during the day in fair weather, with roughly 15-20 per cent efficiency. The storage systems, in contrast, operate through inverters and are more stable.

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