India’s NTPC seeks proposals for sodium-ion battery storage pilots

Indian state-owned power utility NTPC has invited expressions of interest (EoI) for the development and installation of grid-connected battery energy storage systems (BESS) using sodium-ion battery technology at its existing thermal power plants and office buildings.

The pilot program will assess the technical performance, safety, reliability, degradation, operational characteristics and techno-commercial viability of sodium-ion batteries under Indian grid and climatic conditions. The results will help NTPC evaluate the technology’s suitability for potential deployment at a larger scale.

Applicants have been asked to submit technical and techno-commercial details for two pilot configurations. The first calls for a BESS with 100 kWh of usable energy capacity, providing a common basis for comparing proposed technologies. Under the second option, applicants can propose a BESS capacity based on their standard system configuration and a scale they consider appropriate to demonstrate their technology.

NTPC will finalize the pilot capacity and mode of execution based on its evaluation of the proposed technology and its TRL. The latter is a nine-point scale, from TRL 1 to TRL 9, used to assess the maturity of a technology, ranging from early-stage research to a fully developed and proven system.

For technologies at Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL 4), covering validation in a laboratory setup, and TRL 5, covering model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment, applicants must contribute at least 50% of the total project cost.

For technologies at TRL 6, covering prototype demonstration in an industrial environment, and above, no minimum financial contribution is required. Any contribution from the applicant will be determined on mutually agreed terms.

The utility will provide land within its premises for the installation and commissioning of the BESS, along with necessary support for the operation and maintenance of the pilot project.