The Power department hopes to have Kerala’s first battery energy storage system (BESS) in place before the 2026 summer season.

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding for establishing the 125 megawatt (MW)/500 megawatt hour (MWh) BESS at the former’s substation at Mylatty in Kasaragod.

How BESS works

BESS projects allow storage of cheap and surplus energy produced during the daytime, when the demand is low, for use during periods when the demand is high. The work order for the Mylatty project, which is capable of supplying stored power for four hours, has been issued to JSW Neo Energy Ltd. Under this agreement, the storage rate is ₹4.61 per unit.

SECI executive director Atulya Kumar Naik and KSEB deputy chief engineer Rajan M.P. signed the MoU in the presence of Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty on Thursday. The KSEB has announced an early commissioning incentive of ₹8.40 crore for completing the project in nine months’ time.

Viability gap funding

Kerala had received Central approval for a viability gap funding of ₹135 crore for establishing the BESS project in November last year. BESS capacity is specified using MW, which denotes power capacity (the maximum power a BESS can deliver at any given moment), and MWh, which indicates energy capacity (the total volume of energy that it can store or deliver over time).

Kerala is also planning additional BESS projects in a number of other locations. A study by the Power department’s Energy Management Centre – Kerala, recently submitted to the State government, has pegged BESS projects as better suited to handle the State’s energy storage requirements till 2026-27.