Sheru is a new generation energy storage company. Sheru solves this lack of storage by aggregating idle battery capacity to create a virtual energy storage platform. Power producers and utilities can store their energy virtually, on-demand, and on a pay-per-use basis. Without the need for creating physical storage solutions of their own. TimesTech spoke to Ankit Mittal, Co-founder and CEO of Sheru to learn about their work, cloud storage of energy and much more.
Read the full interview here:
TimesTech: Tell us more about the work Sheru has been doing.
Ankit: Sheru has been building a virtual cloud storage platform. We currently have over 7MWh of storage in the grid.
TimesTech: In India close to 70% of electricity is produced from coal and the move toward electrification of mobility has increased the demand for electricity that is being generated from coal. Do you find the demand for thermal energy going down anytime soon?
Ankit: India’s grid is currently reliant on coal as it has traditionally been the cheapest form of producing electricity. And the important role that coal plays in the country’s energy mix is set to continue well into the future. As India’s economy grows, its power demand will continue to grow as well. Adding to that, the electrification of India’s mobility sector would see an increase in demand for power. All this means that India’s power demand in 2030 would be substantially more than it currently is.
Having said that, renewables such as solar and wind have been the favoured source of power generation over the last few years due to steadily declining prices. In fact, 89% of India’s power capacity additions in FY 2022 were from renewable energy, of which solar comprised 90%. We foresee renewables filling the gap in the country’s growing power needs, thus halting the growth of coal. And ambitious renewable energy targets for 2030 mean that they would be around 45% of total generating capacity by then.
However, an issue that would grow in concern for renewable energy developers is that of storage. With solar forming the majority of additions among renewables, daytime production of solar would see a large increase. Without storage options, there is fear that a substantial amount of renewable energy might be curtailed and wasted. We must start planning for storage to ensure we utilise renewable generation to the maximum.
TimesTech: What is Cloud storage of energy? Please elaborate more on this.
Ankit: Cloud storage is simply that energy producers and utilities do not have to build physical storage themselves and can get access to storage virtually. While battery costs have come down over the last decade, energy storage is still pretty expensive and not yet a viable proposition in many cases. This is because of high CAPEX, low utilisation, and the complicated nature of integrating storage into the grid.
With Sheru’s ECO cloud storage, users do not have to worry about CAPEX and can use the platform to store energy when needed. The platform aggregates idle battery capacity and increases the usage and financial viability of the battery as well, thus making it a win-win for all the parties involved.
TimesTech: Grid-connected vehicles are in the experimental stage in many countries. Do you think India is ready for vehicle-2-grid?
Ankit: We can confidently say that India is ready for the technology as we already have it up and running on our ECO platform. However, it’s not the same version being trialled in Europe, where electric cars are the vehicles used.
India’s EV growth story has been in 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers, and there is a sizable battery-swapping market growing within this ecosystem. Our battery-swapping kiosks do away with the need for the vehicle to have V2G technology, thus reducing the technological complexity on the part of the OEM. These kiosks have V2G enabled in them and we’re working with other battery-swapping operators to bring every single swappable battery onto the platform. This form of V2G has not been done anywhere else in the world and Sheru is the pioneer in this technology.
TimesTech: What is Sheru’s Energy-saving and storage plans for a better future and a cleaner environment?
Ankit: With our ECO platform, we provide an easy and economical way for power producers and utilities to store energy. With the increasing amount of variable renewable energy in the power grid, the storage needed for it rises. We aim to be the partner that helps these power producers and utilities optimise the amount of renewable energy in the grid, and help make energy cleaner and greener in the country.
TimesTech: What are Sheru’s plans and focus areas moving forward?
Ankit: We aim to become India’s largest energy storage network. We also have plans to establish our footprint in international territories.
