Wind-solar-storage hybrid offers cheaper electricity than new coal in India

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From pv magazine India

A new report demonstrates renewables coupled with battery storage as a technically and financially viable option to building new coal plants in Tamil Nadu.  

The report finds the levelized cost of electricity generation for a hypothetical hybrid solar-wind-lithium-ion battery storage system for the state to be INR 4.97/kWh ($0.068/kWh) in 2021, which falls to INR 3.4/kWh by 2030. In comparison, the cost of electricity produced from new coal power plants in Tamil Nadu is between INR 4.5-6/kWh.

The report was prepared by JMK Research and Climate Trends based on the modeling of such a hybrid system and the  technical and commercial analysis. For the study, the hybrid system was designed for 1 GW of solar and wind capacity in 2021 with two hours of battery backup, which was increased stepwise over 10 years to a four-hour backup by 2030. 

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“Our analysis found that the cost of hybrid RE with battery storage system is at parity with new coal power plants in Tamil Nadu. Moreover, in 10 years’ time, incremental capacity addition would further drive down the cost by over 31%,” said Jyoti Gulia, founder of JMK Research and Analysis. 

The research further highlighted that adding lithium-based battery storage would help reduce the curtailment of renewable energy in the state. 

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