Tata Power gets nod to deploy 100 Mw battery storage system in Mumbai

Tata Power has received regulatory approval to deploy a 100 megawatt (Mw) battery energy storage system (BESS) across Mumbai to provide backup power to critical infrastructure in the city.

 

India’s largest integrated power utility said the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission has cleared its plan to install BESS across 10 locations over the next two years, according to a company press release.

 

The system will provide backup power to critical infrastructure, such as metro, hospitals, data centres, and the airport in the event of grid disruptions, and also play a key role in peak load management.

 

The project comes at a time when Indian cities are grappling with the twin challenge of rising energy demand and the push to decarbonise. According to the statement, the system will include advanced “black start” capabilities, allowing faster recovery from outages and help avoid blackouts through islanding support, where parts of the grid continue to operate independently.

 

The company said the BESS will also help reduce consumer tariffs in the future by storing power during low-cost periods and discharging it during expensive peak hours. Additionally, the system is expected to defer capital expenditure by reducing the need for grid upgrades.

 

Tata Power plans to manage and monitor the entire network centrally through its Power System Control Center, with plans of integrating the storage infrastructure with a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) to boost operational efficiency. The system will also offer ancillary services such as frequency and voltage regulation and enhance solar energy utilisation by storing surplus daytime power.

 

The utility, which serves 8 lakh customers in Mumbai, is targeting carbon neutrality before 2045 and currently operates 6.7 Gw of renewable energy capacity or 43 per cent of its total portfolio of 15.6 Gw, said the statement.