EESL invests $12m in Canadian battery project

EPAL, a joint venture between Indian state-owned Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) and UK-based EnergyPro (EP) have partnered with battery storage solutions provider Leclanche with an initial investment of $12 million (Rs 75 crore) for the utility-scale Canadian Energy Storage Project.

The investment will go towards previously announced and nearly completed advanced battery storage project in Ontario, Canada, known as Basin 1 and 21. The project is built and owned by Leclanche with its development partner Deltro Energy. It is the first utility scale energy storage facility designed to balance the Ontario power grid, with a total investment of approximately US $25 million (Rs 157 crore).

It will provide services to the Independent Energy Systems Operator (IESO) that oversees and manages the power grid of the province of Ontario, and is interconnected to Toronto Hydro, the largest municipal electricity distribution company in Canada.

The partnership has strategic importance for India as the government has set a ambitious target of achieving 175GW of renewable energy by the year 2022, or 40 percent of the country’s energy supply, up from 12 percent now, under its commitment during COP21.

For achieving this target, India needs to shift its source of energy supply that will be dependent on intermittent power sources and ancillary services which will be required to stabilise the grid. With battery storage aiming to help achieve the stabilisation, supply power to charging stations and reduce the substantial Unscheduled Interchange (UI) charges payable by the country’s utilities and states of around $461.5 million (Rs 2,915 crore) annually.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Dinesh K. Patnaik, Acting High Commissioner of India to UK, said, “This partnership marks the beginning of a significant development in the energy efficiency sector. With the ever-increasing energy consumption, technologies like battery storage will go hand in hand with efficiency to balance supply and demand. I am very hopeful that EPAL, with its excellent track record in driving the UJALA (UK Joins Affordable LEDs for All) initiative, will bring a revolution in the market with its advancement into battery storage projects.”

Saurabh Kumar, MD, EESL, and chairman of subsidiary EPAL, said, “We are delighted to partner with Leclanche. It has been our constant endeavor to make future-ready technology solutions accessible. With a focus on long, low-carbon initiatives globally, we have partnered with the world’s leading battery storage solution provider. We are confident that this partnership will help bring a new era of clean energy solutions for the world.”

“Working together with EESL on this project has highlighted some unique synergies between the companies,” said Anil Srivastava, Leclanche CEO. “We are exploring many additional ways to integrate Leclanche’s advanced lithium battery solutions into stationary storage systems as well as new mobility applications such as EV charging stations, full-electric buses and urban transportation systems.”

“At EnergyPro we are excited to be working with our JV partner EESL and Leclanche on this significant utility scale energy storage project. We see it as a first step to deploying energy storage solutions at a range of scales, something that will be essential to the energy transition in all economies,” said Steven Fawkes, managing partner, EnergyPro.

The Indian government recently launched an ambitious investment programme in new energy, both domestically and overseas, of which the investment in the Leclanche and Deltro Project forms a part. The domestic plans are driven by the government’s target of increasing the contribution of renewables to the country’s energy supply. As part of this, the government has mandated that by 2030 all vehicles on its roads will be electric.

Integral to its global programme, in May 2017, the Indian government announced that it would invest £155 million (Rs 1,525 crore) in clean energy initiatives in the UK’s public and private sectors through EPAL. Till date, EPAL’s UK initiatives include an affordable LED lighting scheme (UJALA), targeted at social housing associations in London, and the acquisition of two energy savings companies serving seven clients in education and leisure.