Industry Odisha Bureau, May 29: Despite the ongoing sizzling summer hurling unbearable and suffocating heatwaves in India, and even though Sun God is bestowing mercy being man-made-solar-power-panel incarnate during the day time by showering air-conditioned healing touch, demand for power supply still remains high in the evening hours due to the hot atmospheric conditions.
Once the sun sets in the western horizon, the solar power generation automatically diminishes and vanishes with the back-up already consumed during daytime as the households are preferring to consume the cheap power generated by their solar-power panels installed on roof-tops instead of coughing up more money to their respective DISCOMs (electricity distribution companies).
It is high time India, being a hot country, should have durable solar power storage capacity.
In this context, it would be wise to throw light on “Duck Curve Solar India”.
As elucidated by LinkedIn: “The Duck Curve in India’s solar energy sector is a critical concern as the country’s renewable energy capacity grows. The curve illustrates the mismatch between solar generation and peak demand, particularly during the evening when solar output is low. This situation can lead to operational challenges for thermal power plants and a risk of evening shortfalls, especially during the hot months.”
Thus, reports of India’s power system paradoxically plunging into electricity crunch during the sizzling summer’s evening hours soon after the sunset has become a foregone conclusion.
As per the latest data reportedly recorded on May 26, “India’s electricity shortage touched 15.87 million units (MUs) on the day, while it is claimed to be sufficient to cater to the power supply needs of around three million homes for a day.”
As per media reports, the allegedly “inadequate thermal power availability in India” has been a matter of grave concerns, especially, during summer days when consumption of electricity is at its peak. It has also been alleged that “40 giga watt (GW) of thermal power out of the 239 GW thermal fleet is under the state of outage now due to technical snags and maintenance issues.”
However, the Government of India is reportedly planning to own “battery storage of 47 GW at an estimated investment of $38 billion by the fiscal year (FY) 2037-38, while India’s present battery storage capacity is claimed to be only 795 Mega Watt per hour (MWh).”
