Germany To Help India With Grid Integration Of Renewable Energy

India will receive help from one of the leading renewable energy generators in the world for integration of the large number of renewable energy projects the former expects to install over the coming years.

The two countries recently announced the Indo-German Energy Programme — Green Energy Corridors. Under the program, the German development organization GIZ will provide technical support to Indian agencies and regulators regarding integration of renewable energy into the existing grid infrastructure.

The Green Energy Corridors project, spearheaded by India’s largest power transmission company, is aimed at integration of 175 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity that India aims to have operational by March 2022. The Indian government recognizes that the sudden increase in renewable energy capacity in India could adversely impact the current grid infrastructure, which has had its own technical issues not very long ago.

India is already struggling with the problem of absorption of renewable energy into the grid. Several states direct wind and solar power developers to reduce generation when adequate transmission capacity is not available in the grid. This results in direct revenue loss to the project developers.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy had to issue an advisory to state power utilities not to force renewable energy developers to reduce generation, as these projects enjoy a ‘must-run’ status. The Ministry advised the state power utilities to shutdown thermal power plants to balance demand and supply but not force-shutdown renewable energy projects.

The Green Energy Corridors project will not only provide additional transmission capacity for the evacuation of renewable energy but also enable host states to supply any surplus electricity to other states. Transmission of renewable energy between states has been exempted from transmission charges. This help states with low renewable energy resources to achieve the renewable energy purchase obligations.

Apart from technical assistance, Germany will also provide financial aid for the execution of the Green Energy Corridors project. German development bank KfW has also committed at least €1 billion for implementation of transmission projects dedicated to renewable energy projects in India.