India''s first thermal battery plant unveiled in Andhra
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, August 6
India’s first thermal battery plant was unveiled at Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati on Monday by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The plant will manufacture an energy storage device which will store renewable energy for various purposes and thereby reduce carbon emissions.
The plant is expected to commence commercial operations by May 2019.
Manufactured by Bharat Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Private Limited, this device will help store energy for commercial vehicles and highway recharge points and is expected to be of great help in hilly and remote areas.
The device, known as High Energy Density Storage (HEDS), is a technology that was invented and patented by Dr Patrick Glenn in 2016. These devices cost the same as the erstwhile lithium-based batteries, which have a limited life.
BEST is coming up with a greenfield facility in Andhra Pradesh to manufacture these batteries at an investment of Rs 660 crores. This facility is expected to create 3,000 jobs in a span of three years.
Initially, the facility is expected to operate at a capacity of 1,000 megawatts which will later be increased to 10 gigawatts by 2025.
These batteries are better than solar panels, which depend on weather conditions and are expensive to maintain. The batteries are expected to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources of energy.
The greenfield facility will manufacture batteries suitable for telecommunications, mini-grids, microgrids and electric buses in its first phase.
Although solar power is considered the most reliable source of energy yet it has certain pitfalls. The energy generation is not possible after sunset and high rainfall areas, which brings in the need for a robust energy storage infrastructure.
The thermal battery is a landmark development in the field of technology and environmental protection.
Existing energy storage technologies depend on Lithium-based batteries, which are limited by life cycles, making it a very expensive proposition with replacements needed every six to seven years.
They are also low on energy density and need a high footprint. Furthermore, Lithium’s sensitivity to extreme temperatures requires the energy storage systems to be placed in conditioned temperatures, requiring about eight to ten per cent energy storage for the cause.
However, BEST’s High Energy Density Storage (HEDS) device is a revolutionary technology and what sets this storage device apart is the fact that it requires a small footprint and is priced at par with Lithium-based solutions.
The facility will also manufacture storage devices that are environment-friendly and do not use hard metal or inflammable substances but around 95 per cent reusable materials.
