ANNOUNCEMENTS
The development of a nation has a direct impact on its energy consumption. With India aiming to become a developed nation, it has moved towards modernization of its power grid as well. Increasing dependency on electricity and evolving interventions is driving a shift in the power sector in India. One such shift is the shift to decarbonize the transport sector with the introduction to electric vehicles. Thus, we observe that the demand is transitioning upwards with an increasing growth rate. Distribution companies are present at the downstream of the power sector, thus making them one of the important stakeholder. It is important to look into various tools that the utilities can utilize in managing the ‘demand transitions’. Solar rooftop systems and battery energy storage systems are two tools of interest to the utilities at present. Despite declining cost and technology present, solar rooftop has not seen the growth it has been anticipated with the help of government policies and targets. In-order to engage the utilities in the promotion of solar rooftop sector, it is important to address any challenges that they perceive is present or might arise in the future. On the other hand, battery energy storage systems is relevantly newer technology and is still being explored with pilot project implementations around the world. At present, with the technology not being adopted at a larger scale, the cost of deploying such systems is significantly higher. With technology already discussed over years, it is important to look into its techno-economic aspects so as to assess a feasibility case for the distribution utilities to take advantage of these battery energy storage systems at the utility level. Exploring how each tool can be promoted at the distribution level via a feasible approach or business model can help the distribution utilities to avail the benefits that they offer in managing the ‘demand transitions’ of the future.
Keywords: Demand Transitions, Electric Vehicles, Distribution Utilities, Solar Rooftop, Battery Energy Storage Systems
