Keralam power crisis: KSEB clears pact with Germany’s GIZ, WRI India on energy storage
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The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has cleared a proposal for signing a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and WRI India on energy storage solutions. The decision has come amid a power crisis which, among other things, has exposed Keralam’s lack of grid-scale energy storage facilities.
The MoU, which will be inked after securing the State government’s approval, has been proposed under the Energy Storage for Renewable Energy Integration in India (StoREin) project implemented by GIZ in collaboration with the Union government’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). StoREin is aimed at establishing “enabling conditions” for deployment of energy storage solutions within India’s power distribution networks via technical studies, demonstration projects and capacity-building.
The KSEB management had decided to seek the State government’s approval for conducting studies and demonstration projects under StoREin within the KSEB’s electricity distribution network.
WRI India, the lead consortium partner, will provide technical assistance, conduct pre-feasibility studies and support tendering and monitoring activities, a September 14 KSEB order said. The KSEB will “extend cooperation through data sharing, site visits and regulatory facilitation, without any financial obligation to KSEB,” it said.
The role of GIZ will be “documented separately” through an exchange of letters. Data sharing with WRI India “in mutually agreed-upon areas” would be strictly subject to a non-disclosure agreement that has been executed, it further said.
Faced with a power crisis, the KSEB is moving ahead with plans for battery energy storage systems (BESS) and pumped storage projects (PSP), the latter linked to Keralam’s hydropower facilities. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government has also proposed community-level battery energy storage systems in its Revised Budget for 2026-27.
Commenting on the power crisis last Wednesday, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan had rued the State’s lack of energy storage systems for storing the surplus solar power for meeting the soaring evening demand. On Friday, Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph, while speaking at a round table conference on ‘Renewable Energy Sources at the three-day State government conference Reimagining Keralam, had underscored the need for Keralam to explore the possibilities in floating solar projects, PSPs and community-level battery storage systems with the help of local bodies.
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