Integrated life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of grid-scale energy storage alternatives for India

Abstract

Renewable energy will dominate India's grid in the future. The intermittent nature of renewable energy requires energy storage. This research examines grid-scale deployment options for India, including pumped hydro, lithium-ion batteries, vanadium redox-flow batteries, molten salt storage, and compressed air energy storage. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment for midpoint categories was conducted in SimaPro. Pumped hydro storage exhibits the lowest impact in all the categories. Vanadium redox flow batteries exhibit the highest degradation scores in almost all categories except non-carcinogenic human toxicity, where the anode graphite causes the most impact in lithium-ion batteries. The impacts are found to be most sensitive towards electricity usage, except for molten salt storage (solar collectors) and usage of tetrafluoroethylene in vanadium redox flow batteries and salts (sodium and potassium nitrate) in molten salt storage for stratospheric ozone depletion, using anode graphite in lithium-ion batteries for terrestrial ecotoxicity. The techno-economic study shows that the lowest levelized cost of storage is ₹7.88/kWh (0.1 US$/kWh) for pumped hydro and the highest at ₹15.86/kWh (0.2 US$/kWh) for vanadium redox flow. Sensitivity analysis showed that pumped hydro storage is most sensitive to changes in power purchase prices. The cost of lithium-ion, molten salt, compressed air energy storage, and vanadium redox-flow battery is most susceptible to capital expenditure and roundtrip efficiency. Further, the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) projections revealed the vanadium redox flow battery to be the most expensive. Pumped hydro storage was the most affordable due to its higher energy efficiency and longer lifespan.