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MNRE Engages CEA to Expand Ancillary Market for Stronger Grid Stability

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is set to begin consultations aimed at expanding opportunities for ancillary service providers in the clean energy segment to improve grid management. The matter has been taken up with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), according to MNRE Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi.

The proposed development of a more robust ancillary services market—covering frequency regulation, voltage support, and black start capabilities—is intended to tackle rising concerns around grid stability. Black start systems, in particular, enable rapid restoration of the grid in the event of a complete shutdown.

Sarangi emphasised the need to deploy advanced technologies such as grid-forming inverters, battery energy storage systems, synchronised condensers, static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs), and capacitor banks. These instruments can help manage the technical challenges associated with integrating higher shares of variable renewable energy into the national grid.

The initiative comes amid growing concerns that grid integration could become a bottleneck as renewable capacity additions accelerate. The CEA is currently preparing a discussion paper on ancillary markets, which will explore mechanisms to create structured market opportunities for ancillary service providers.

In addition to ancillary services, ensuring that transmission infrastructure expansion keeps pace with renewable energy installations remains a priority. As renewable generation rises, maintaining frequency control becomes increasingly complex, underscoring the importance of battery energy storage deployment to maintain grid balance.

Sarangi also pointed out that several countries operate dedicated capacity markets for ancillary services. In India, exploring the creation of such a capacity market and strengthening system balancing reserves are areas where further efforts may be required to support seamless renewable energy integration.