Commission four BESS projects by Jan. 2027, Keralam regulatory panel tells KSEB

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Noting the delays plaguing the Kerala State Electricity Board’s (KSEB) battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission has directed the power utility to ensure that four BESS projects are commissioned by January 2027.

The directive is part of an October 29 order of the commission. The regulator wants the power utility to complete the 125MW/500MWh project at Mylatti and the other three BESS projects with a combined capacity of 110 MW/440MWh by January 2027, “so as to ensure peak-hour support to the State.”

If the commission’s directive is complied with, Keralam will have four BESS projects ready before the 2027 summer. Mylatti (Kasaragod) aside, the other three projects are coming up at the Sreekantapuram in Kannur, Areakode in Malappuram and Pothencode in Thiruvananthapuram.

The commission also found fault with the KSEB’s reported proposal to schedule the power from the BESS projects during night off-peak hours and morning hours in the coming summer months. The reasons for the shift in the scheduling of BESS power to other than peak hours are not justified, the commission says, observing that the BESS projects are meant for peak support (between 6 p.m. and midnight).

The commission has repeated its directive to the KSEB that it publish the weekly progress report on all the BESS projects along with time-stamped photographs on the KSEB website. The KSEB is yet to comply with an earlier directive in this regard for reasons “unknown to the commission,” the panel says in its order.  

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