Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 27 (PTI) Kerala has unveiled a pilot community-owned Battery Energy Storage System (C-BESS) in Perinjanam, Thrissur, an initiative that would boost decentralised, climate-resilient power infrastructure.
The announcement was made at an event here on Thursday related to the release of “Charging Change: Strengthening Kerala’s Energy Security through Community Ownership”, a report prepared by Asar Social Impact Advisors, a statement by the Energy Management Centre, a government agency, said on Friday.
Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) K R Jyotilal said the Rs 2-crore Perinjanam project, expected to be commissioned by May 2026, would mark Kerala’s first decentralised storage initiative under community stewardship.
Referring to the lessons from the 2018 floods, he noted that grid failures and inoperable diesel generators had underscored the urgent need for resilient, decentralised systems.
Jyotilal said the Perinjanam model must become operational within the stipulated timeline and evolve into a scalable national framework.
He also linked the initiative to Kerala’s emerging electric mobility strategy, stating that decentralised grids integrated with storage could support electric autorickshaws and enable surplus power to be fed back into the grid.
The study report argues that although Kerala has made significant progress in rooftop solar adoption, its continued reliance on imported electricity — particularly during evening peak hours — exposes a structural weakness in the state’s energy architecture.
As per the report, Kerala’s renewable capacity reached 2,382.34 MW by December 2025, with rooftop solar accounting for nearly 83 per cent of the installed solar capacity.
However, peak demand touched 5,797 MW in May 2024 and is projected to rise significantly in the coming decade.
The core challenge lies in the timing gap between daytime solar generation and evening demand — a mismatch that community-level storage seeks to address, the statement said.
Priya Pillai, Chief of Strategic Alliances at Asar, said the Perinjanam model presents a credible alternative to large centralised energy projects.
G M Pillai, Founder Director General of the World Institute of Sustainable Energy, observed that Kerala’s high population density and limited land availability make decentralised solar more practical than thermal or nuclear expansion.
Dr R Harikumar, Director of the Energy Management Centre, said the widespread grid collapse and failure of conventional backup systems revealed the vulnerability of centralised infrastructure and highlighted the necessity of decentralised, storage-backed solutions capable of functioning during extreme weather events.
The statement said the Perinjanam pilot project will store surplus solar power at the distribution level during the day and release it during peak hours in the evening.
Unlike individual household batteries or large utility-scale installations, the system will function as a shared public asset managed through local institutions such as panchayats and cooperatives, the statement said.
Perinjanam was selected due to its high rooftop solar penetration, with more than 1,100 installations generating nearly 4.8 MW, making it a representative case of Kerala’s distributed energy expansion without adequate local balancing infrastructure, the statement said. PTI TBA TBA ROH
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