Black & Veatch has been selected to provide engineering expertise to IL&FS Energy Development Company Limited’s (IEDCL) 41 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, and battery storage hybrid project in India. Core components of the project are 25 MW solar PV and 16 MW wind power generation systems, coupled to an optimised energy storage system.

Technical services for the project, located in Andhra Pradesh, are funded by a grant award from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. IL&FS Energy is building multiple gigawatt-scale solar parks in India.
Black & Veatch’s role includes performing engineering studies to optimize the project, preparing the request for proposal (RFP) documentation for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) provider and for original equipment manufacturers that may supply equipment for the project. Black & Veatch will also provide recommendations on supportive regulatory frameworks that would make BESS viable for similar grid-scale hybrid power projects, and formulating a plan, with key milestones for the implementation of the project.

Appropriate battery storage solutions are an important tool in stabilizing the grid when a significant amount of renewable energy is integrated, as is the case currently in India. The system will enable a more reliable and consistent output from the combined facility by stabilizing fluctuations in output from the intermittent resources and providing services to support stabilization of the grid.

“This project exemplifies our work here. For more than 50 years, we have been tailoring leading edge technologies to the specific needs of communities in India,” says Mitesh Patel, Director of Black & Veatch’s renewable energy businesses in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“This pilot project, apart from delivering industry leading plant load factor and optimized hardware configuration, will assist the distribution company in efficient grid management through real-time monitoring of ramps, peak shifting and matching of load and generation profiles,” says Keshav Prasad, Chief Operating Officer, Solar, IL&FS Energy.