It was a blistering afternoon at the construction site in Mumbai, one of the busiest in India. The foreman weaved his way through the labyrinths of scaffolding and cement mixers when the power flickered and went off. Power cuts are as common as the monsoon rains in India’s frenzied construction scenes, disrupting work and pushing deadlines further into the horizon.

Places like India, where the construction industry brings GDP at about 9%, will feel the occurrence of power outages more profoundly. It noted that India recorded over 25,830 outages within a year, evidently portending a problem that is seemingly chronic in rural areas and so too in urban developments.

Enter the hero of our story: Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). And that’s changing the game to where things we would have thought were previously a massive headache are now just another part of daily operation more readily managed. Would our site in Mumbai have a BESS?

When the grid wobbles, BESS takes over and provides uninterruptible power such that the lights will remain on and the mixers will therefore keep running. The transition is so smooth that the workers may never even realize there is a problem in the grid. But BESS is more than just a backup: it’s an intelligent investment. According to some estimations, the equipment of BESS reduces the cost of energy at construction objects by 30% because of well-timed and well-organized power consumption and the ability to store it. This is a windfall not only to the project budget but, more importantly, to the environment—one of the means of minimizing dependence on diesel generators, which are usually used as an alternative device in times of power crises.

In a developing country like India, where pollution emanating from construction is a big menace, BESS could come to the rescue by cutting down the emissions by a good amount. Further, with the Indian government under the direction of its leadership laying the direction for infrastructure development at a forecast of spending over USD 1.4 trillion in the next five years, it will be innovative technologies like BESS that will become a necessity.

It is responsible for executing the visionary plans effectively and in time, be it the towering business centers of Mumbai or the vast highways cutting across rural India.

Some examples: In the bustling city of Mumbai, a major construction project faced significant delays due to frequent power outages. The project, aiming to build a new commercial complex, encountered unexpected halts, with work often stopping for hours. These power interruptions not only pushed the completion date back by several months but also increased costs by approximately 20%, as generators had to be run to keep crucial machinery operational.

Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, another construction site for a residential development experienced similar challenges. Power cuts disrupted the daily schedule, affecting tasks like cement mixing and metal welding. The site manager noted a 15% rise in overall expenses due to the need for backup power solutions. The project’s timeline was extended by three months, frustrating both the developers and future residents awaiting their homes

From mitigating the vagaries of the Indian power grid to entering into a kind of future in which energy management is smart, seamless, and affordable, for construction companies, investments in BESS would be tantamount to not just mitigating the vagaries of the Indian power grid but stepping into the kind of future where energy management is smart, seamless, and affordable. It is a shift from being reactive to proactive, from being dependent on the grid to independent. As the sun sets on our construction site in Mumbai, the lights shall remain on, lit up by BESS. Work shall continue without abatement, thus painting a picture of a future where power outages are no bane, just another challenge engineered away.

Let’s learn more about how BESS is the game-changer for the Construction industry. Visit us at www.goodenough.energy