Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has announced three huge tenders across the country with various combinations of solar, energy storage, wind and hybrid concepts, to be connected to the Interstate Transmission System (ISTS)

India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST), a single tax applicable across the whole of the country, will be lowered for lithium-ion batteries by 10%, in a move which has been welcomed by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).

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.

In a feature article from the latest volume of PV Tech Power, the editorial team at Energy-Storage.News canvassed the opinions of trade association chiefs from five key global regions. Here’s some ‘bonus’ content…

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.

The start of construction on India’s largest energy storage project is not only of strategic importance to regulators, but could also drive another wave of utility-scale projects in India, the chief of the country’s storage Alliance has said.

Dr. Rahul Walawalkar of the Indian Energy Storage Alliance also predicts at least two lithium-ion cell manufacturing plants of 500MWh+ capacity to start construction in India this year.

A lack of clarity around India’s recently enforced Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill has caused a PV tender delay in the state of Gujarat and prompted the nation’s energy storage alliance to write a letter of appeal to the government.

At least two global technology leaders could set up Gigafactories to manufacture lithium-ion cells in India in the next couple of years, and most major Indian firms are setting up energy storage divisions, according to the head of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).

Orders for distributed energy storage and the rise of an electric mobility market have kick-started a battery assembly push in India.