By:Zawya

Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power company and a trusted electricity provider to approximately 8 lakh residential and commercial consumers, has received approval from the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) to install a 100 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Mumbai over the next two years.

The Battery Energy Storage System will feature advanced ‘black start’ functionality, which will allow for a swift recovery of power supply to critical infrastructure such as the metro, hospitals, airport, and data centers in the event of grid disturbances. This capability is expected to prevent large-scale blackouts and significantly enhance the resilience of Mumbai’s power network. In addition, the BESS will improve reactive power management, optimizing peak demand efficiency and strengthening the city’s overall power infrastructure.

The system’s high ramp-rate capability will play an important role in managing peak loads, ensuring a stable and balanced power supply even during periods of high demand. It will also contribute to reducing power purchase costs by enabling the storage of energy during low-cost periods and its use during high-cost peak hours, which in turn is expected to help reduce tariffs for consumers in the future. Furthermore, the BESS will support the deferral of capital expenditure by minimizing the need for expensive infrastructure upgrades and efficiently managing load fluctuations through stored energy.

Beyond improving grid reliability, the BESS will provide ancillary services such as frequency regulation and voltage support, further enhancing the stability of the grid. It will also allow for better utilization of solar energy by storing surplus power generated during the day and making it available during peak demand periods. This will facilitate optimal renewable energy integration and support the increase of green energy consumption in Mumbai. Tata Power’s deployment of the BESS will also fulfill energy storage obligations mandated by regulatory authorities.

The entire 100 MW storage capacity will be distributed across 10 strategically chosen sites located near key load centers within Mumbai’s distribution network. The system will be centrally monitored and controlled from Tata Power’s Power System Control Center (PSCC), ensuring efficient management and coordination across all sites.

Looking to the future, Tata Power plans to integrate the BESS with its Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) to further enhance operational efficiency. In keeping with Tata Power’s commitment to safety, the system will incorporate three layers of temperature monitoring and fire suppression mechanisms at the cell, module, and rack levels. The BESS is designed for high round-trip efficiency with reduced auxiliary power consumption, which will improve overall performance and extend the system’s lifespan, thereby supporting Mumbai’s long-term energy sustainability goals.

As renewable energy adoption continues to accelerate, battery energy storage systems like this one are set to play a key role in enabling a smoother transition. Compared to conventional alternatives, BESS offers a more cost-effective and faster-to-deploy solution with a shorter gestation period, making it an essential part of the clean energy future.