SunEdison Buys 100MWh Vanadium Batteries For Microgrids in India

World’s largest renewable energy developer SunEdison has purchased 1000 energy storage systems from Imergy to supply electricity to villages in rural India.

Microgrids with battery storage will be paired with SunEdison solar panels, in partnership with Omnigrid Micropower Company (OMC) in India.  The company plans to transfer operation of the micro-grids to the local population within 5 years.

According to CEO of Imergy, Bill Watkins, SunEdison is purchasing Imergy’s ESP 30 systems, a 30kW battery that can provide about 24 hours, or 120 kWh, of storage.

Vanadium redox batteries were the chosen technology for energy storage for rural applications as they can provide many hours of storage, require minimal maintenance and have a long working life.

OMC and SunEdison are supplying energy systems to Indian telecom towers, which in turn provide excess power to surrounding villages. The collaboration with telecom towers allows the companies to bank the project using a hybrid power-purchase agreement, when villagers have little or no credit.