Preparing for High-Mix of Renewables in India’s Power Generation

Coal and Renewables (especially solar and wind) are likely to dominate India’s energy mix for quite some time. India is blessed with solar radiation in most parts of the country, and costs are falling rapidly. It is conceivable that power-generation using renewables is likely to come close to 50% by 2030. While this could be great for India, the intermittent power-generation through wind and solar would imply that power-available may fluctuate. Battery Storage could be an answer. Even though cost of Battery Storage is falling rapidly, grid-level storage to arrest power-generation fluctuation would push the prices of electric power beyond “affordability” in India. The other answer is demand side load-management to significantly off-set the supply variation without impacting living and working style significantly. The paper briefs on design of power-system in multi-storied commercial complexes, which would make its electrical load respond to power-surplus and power-deficit scenarios on the grid. When the grid has surplus power, the building would consume power to its full extent, but when there is power-deficit, it will consume minimally. Such buildings are being built today, and if tariffs are designed to benefit commercial complexes which adhere to the above principal, their adoption would be speeded up. The key is that it would benefit the grid, while benefitting the commercial complexes. Besides presenting the concept and designs of power-systems in such buildings, the paper presents some simulation results and some initial measurements on power-consumed in different situations in one such building. The paper also presents some initial idea on how this approach can be extended to powering entire residential and commercial sector.