Sterlite may enter power storage business

“We will evaluate that (storage business) as it is quite natural for transmission companies,” Chief Executive and Managing Director Prateek Agarwal said in an interview. , the storage is viewed as a grid element.

Large battery storage facilities that store and reconvert electricity can help India’s electricity grid, given intermittent power generation from clean energy sources such as solar and wind. State-run power generator NTPC Ltd has floated a global tender for a 1GWh grid-scale battery storage system, and Tata Power Solar has been contracted to build India’s first large-scale 5 MWh battery storage in Leh . In addition, Reliance Industries Limited has plans to set up an advanced energy storage giga factory. “The government has understood the need for warehousing and grid-connected storage, and this is a big push,” Agarwal said.

In May, the central government approved a 18,100 crore Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of Advanced Chemical Cell Batteries, or ACCs, which are new generation storage technologies that store electrical energy in the form of electrical or chemical energy.

According to Crisil Research, India’s total power generation capacity, including renewable energy, will increase from 472GW in FY11 to 382GW in FY2011, requiring investment in transmission to supply power to various demand centres. Furthermore, the impoverished nature of renewable energy will trigger issues in the power grid unless the power generated is distributed over long distances and on transmission lines to multiple demand centers.

This month, billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Sterlite Power Transmission got approval from the capital markets regulator to launch an initial public offering. According to its draft share sale documents, investment in transmission segment may increase 3.5-4 trillion over the next five years, the need for a robust transmission system to support continuous generation additions, the renewable energy sector and the push for rural electrification.

company looking to raise 1,250 crore through IPO, is planning to repay its debt with proceeds. It may also consider pre-IPO placements, which can total up to 220 crores, which, if completed, will reduce the size of the issue.

“A major portion of the proceeds will initially be used to refinance some of the high cost debt that is sitting in one of our properties. Once that’s taken out, we can probably bring low-cost financing into that property and release this money that we’re raising, and use it for a variety of development initiatives, Like running a car business or participating in more tenders, winning more tenders, all of which require capital,” Agarwal said.

As of March, it had outstanding balances under fund-based and non-fund-based working capital and term loan facilities 7,323.99 crores.