A new report says sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), made from abundant materials, could help India reduce its dependence on imports to meet its energy storage needs.
SIBs offer India an opportunity to build a domestic energy storage ecosystem due to its abundant raw materials compared to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), according to a report from the Britain-India bilateral program ASPIRE, led by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in collaboration with the Indian Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. KPMG served as lead advisor to the program.
The report highlights India’s position as the world’s third largest producer of sodium chloride, accounting for 10% of global salt production in 2021, along with its capacity to produce key SIB materials such as iron ore, manganese ore, phosphates and sulfur. Combined with reduced dependence on crucial minerals such as cobalt, these factors make SIBs a promising option for India’s projected need for 41.7 GW/208 GWh of battery energy storage systems by 2030, the Central Electricity Authority said.
The report says SIBs are suitable for network-scale storage applications due to their competitive lifecycle, improved security and lower costs compared to LIBs. They can address important network applications such as resource adequacy, transmission congestion relief, energy arbitrage and renewable energy reinforcement. The production process of SIBs is similar to that of LIBs, allowing production lines to be transferred with minimal changes, while falling costs over the next decade are expected to make them 15-20% cheaper than LIBs by 2030.
“By 2030, SIBs are expected to achieve costs that are 15-20% lower than LIBs, making them increasingly competitive across applications,” the report said.
The report recommends policy measures to support the adoption of SIBs, including integrating SIBs into the Indian energy storage framework through 24-hour renewable energy tenders, a production-linked incentive program for advanced chemical cells, energy storage obligations within the mandates for the purchase of renewable energy, and a viability gap. financing storage projects.
Collaboration between India and the UK could accelerate SIB development through joint research, business partnerships, scalable manufacturing and sharing of best policy practices. UK-based SIB companies include AMTE Power and LiNa Energy, while Indian companies such as Indi Energy, KPIT Technologies and Sodion Energy are already active in the sector.
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