Indian storage is now bought as availability by the month, not as equipment by the megawatt hour

A 6,000 MW high voltage direct current link across three states changed hands for 18.98 crore rupees

Power Grid Corporation of India acquired Barmer HVDC Power Transmission Limited on 23 September for 18.98 crore rupees. The special purpose vehicle carries a plus and minus 800 kV high voltage direct current bipole of about 1,000 km, terminals at Barmer II in Rajasthan and South Kalamb in Maharashtra, associated 400 kV lines and two synchronous condenser units, to evacuate 6,000 MW from the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Zone Phase IV.

Under tariff based competitive bidding, the special purpose vehicle is incorporated by a coordinator, bid out, and transferred to the winner for the cost of the shell. The winner then builds the asset and recovers it through transmission charges. A direct current link of this size needs a source of inertia and short circuit strength at its terminals, and on a grid this heavy with inverter based generation.

A railway financier has lent 42 billion rupees to a power utility for solar and storage

Indian Railway Finance Corporation signed a 42 billion rupee term loan with Damodar Valley Corporation for floating solar, ground mounted solar, rooftop solar and battery storage projects, reported on 28 September.

The lender is the point. A financier built to fund rolling stock and railway assets is writing a large ticket into generation and storage, which says something about where long tenor rupee debt is looking for deployment. It suggests a portfolio approach across the utility's reservoirs and land rather than a single project financing.

A shipyard is procuring a 20 MWh grid connected battery system, closing 13 October

Cochin Shipyard is procuring a 20 MWh, 10 MW grid connected battery energy storage system, closing 13 October.

Storage procurement is assumed to sit with utilities and developers. This sits with an industrial buyer purchasing for its own load, which means a different specification, a different approval chain and a shorter bidder list.

Coal stock at power plants is 21.8 million tonnes, about 37% of what the norm requires

Coal stock across Indian power plants stood at 21.8 million tonnes on 27 September, reported at about 37% of normative requirement. The previous day it was 21.9 million tonnes.

A normative stock is the buffer a plant is supposed to hold for its own configuration and distance from the mine. This is a position that constrains dispatch choices.

The number to watch alongside it is the count of plants below the critical threshold, which has moved from 45 at the start of September to 82 on 27 September.

Indian storage is now bought as availability by the month, not as equipment by the megawatt hour

Three storage procurements in one week, bought three ways. A state distribution company contracted 2,000 MW and 4,000 MWh at 2.38 to 2.40 lakh rupees per MW per month on fifteen year terms with a 95% availability floor and an 85% round trip efficiency condition. A generator published a 200 MW, 400 MWh construction tender at a thermal station. A shipyard is buying 20 MWh for its own load.

The first is a service contract. The second is a works contract. The third is a capital purchase. The monthly availability contract moves degradation and augmentation risk onto the supplier for fifteen years. Whoever signs that is underwriting cell chemistry a decade out.

For a supplier the question is no longer whether you can deliver a battery. It is which of the three contracts your balance sheet can carry.