The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has extended bid submission deadlines for a number of solar projects with battery storage co-location requirements.

A design consultancy service contract for a 1200MW pumped hydro energy storage project, paired with solar and wind energy and under development by independent power producer (IPP) Greenko has been awarded to AFRY India.

India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) executive director and Energy-Storage.news guest blogger Dr Rahul Walawalkar has been appointed chair of the Global Energy Storage Alliance (GESA).

Energy Vault, a Swiss maker of energy storage systems based around gravity, has made its technology commercially available, with India’s Tata Power expected to be the first customer.

News in brief from around the world of energy storage.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a tender for two 1.5MW(AC) solar power projects with battery energy storage systems of 0.75MW / 2.5MWh each at two locations in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Dr Rahul Walawalkar is president and MD of Customized Energy Solutions and an executive director of the India Energy Storage Alliance. A proud evangelist for renewables and advanced energy storage technologies, Andy Colthorpe asked him about what 2017 meant for India’s storage industry and what’s getting him enthused – or apprehensive – about 2018.

The winner of India’s first major solar-plus-storage auction, which has subsequently been scrapped for retendering, has said that despite being an unfortunate development, the firm is still keen to work closely with government on this technology for which the economics are continuously and rapidly improving.

Major oil company Shell and European utility ENGIE are among investors to have pumped US$20 million into Husk Power Systems, a developer of microgrids which is expanding its efforts in Asia and Africa.