The Energy Management Centre (EMC) has invited expressions of interest (EoI) to deploy behind-the-meter, intelligent battery energy storage systems (BESS) in residential and commercial establishments in Kerala.

Bids must be submitted by October 31, 2025. Bids will be opened on November 3.

Bidders must submit an empanelment fee of ₹10,000 (~$112.6) and provide the required details through the Government of Kerala’s e-procurement portal.

Selected bidders will be invited to participate in pilot deployments, technical trials, and proof-of-concept initiatives. They will also be recognized as a trusted technology partner of EMC.

The scope of work encompasses building a strategic ecosystem of technology providers that can supply, install, operate, and maintain advanced BESS. The BESS must be integrated with intelligent inverters and energy management systems (EMS).

Bidders must have deployed energy storage systems in the residential and/or commercial sectors. They must have also deployed integrated battery systems with rooftop solar solutions, smart inverters, and intelligent energy management platforms.

Selected bidders must ensure the BESS’ seamless integration with existing electrical infrastructure and rooftop solar systems.

Bidders must have provided operation and maintenance support in Kerala.

The EoI will also explore Kerala’s available BESS technologies and the state’s readiness for this technology. As part of this initiative, EMC will explore battery chemistries, performance metrics of BESS, inverter capabilities, and EMS. It will also evaluate the state’s available options in remote diagnostics, mobile integration, and cybersecurity features.

The initiative will also gather insights into the range of viable commercial and financial models that original equipment manufacturers and solution providers are willing to offer in Kerala. The range of financial options that EMC will evaluate includes capital expenditure models, operational expenditure/leasing models, battery-as-a-service, and public-private partnerships.

Residential BESS

The BESS for residential applications can range from 3 kWh to 10 kWh, depending on the household’s load profile, rooftop solar availability, and backup requirements.

Lithium-ion and lithium-ion phosphate batteries with life cycles between 3,000 to 6,000 cycles will be given preference.

The BESS system for residential applications must accommodate future capacity upgrades of up to 6 kWh to 10 kWh.

Batteries for the residential sector must be enclosed in weatherproof, corrosion-resistant casting suitable for Kerala’s humid and monsoon-prone climate.

BESS for the Commercial Sector

The BESS systems for commercial purposes must have a capacity of at least 20-100 kWh. It must offer more than 3,000 discharge cycles.

The storage system for the commercial sector must support parallel configurations and high C-rate performance for peak load shaving and critical load support.

It must also offer options for indoor and outdoor-rated installations.

Inverters

The inverters used for the BESS must have bi-directional functionality, support grid-tied operation, islanded operation during outages, and integration with solar charging.

It must also be capable of enabling net metering for projects and prioritizing battery usage according to the time-of-day tariff signals.

The inverters used for BESS must be able to segregate critical and non-critical loads for optimized backup.

Energy Management Systems

The EMS used in conjunction with the BESS must allow load shifting, solar power optimization, AI-based forecasting, real-time monitoring, and remote management.

It must also provide mobile and web applications for end-users to view usage trends, battery status, and alerts.

Battery Management System

The battery management system (BMS) must be able to monitor the state of charge and health, cell balancing, and thermal management of the BESS.

It must also have safety features against overvoltage, undervoltage, overcurrent, short-circuit, and thermal runaway conditions.

The BMS must be integrated with an EMS to notify users or service personnel of abnormal conditions.

The BESS must also allow for integration with existing or planned rooftop solar projects. BESS systems can be pre-engineered solar-plus-storage packages tailored to household or commercial load profiles.

According to the draft regulations issued by the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission, net metering would only be permitted for rooftop solar systems with a capacity between 3 kW and 5 kW, provided they include energy storage systems that account for up to 30% of the rooftop solar capacity.