Kolkata Metro gets India’s 1st micro grid
Kolkata: Indian Railways’ first micro grid equipped with a 4 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) was inaugurated on Wednesday at Central Metro station on the Blue Line, marking another first for the country’s oldest metro network and for the eastern region.
The system comprises inverters and Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries and is powered by a 6.4 MWh Lithium Iron Phosphate battery. It has been designed to maintain tunnel ventilation and environment control systems during power outages or grid failure and to haul stranded trains to the nearest station.
Subhrangsu Sekhar Mishra, General Manager of Kolkata Metro Railway said the system is primarily meant to ensure continuity of services during power disruptions. “If a train is stranded between two stations, we will be able to haul it to the nearest station,” he said. He added that the sanctioned capacity for the project is around 16 MWh and that the present installation forms the trial phase and will be expanded.
The BESS has been designed to haul rakes at a speed of up to 55 km/hr from mid-tunnel to the next station during a grid failure. It will be able to supply power to the entire Blue Line from Dakshineswar to Shahid Khudiram in
emergency situations. Apart from backup support, the system is expected to help regulate load and prevent breach of the contracted maximum demand. “If we exceed the declared maximum demand, penalties are imposed. With the battery storage system, we will be able to avoid that,” Mishra said.
The project was undertaken under the National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Storage, approved by the Union Cabinet in 2021. Delta Electronics India supplied the 4 MW / 6.4 MWh BESS to Metro Railway Kolkata.
Metro Railway is also planning to integrate solar panels with the storage system. “We are setting up solar plants and will connect them to the BESS so that solar energy can be stored and used in a regulated manner,” Mishra said, adding that they are also exploring agreements with the power distribution company to restructure energy supply and reduce charges.
