Gensol Engineering and IndiGrid 2 (IndiGrid) have won Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam’s (GUVNL) auction to set up pilot projects of 250 MW/500 MWh standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Gujarat under tariff-based global competitive bidding (Phase-II).

Gensol won 70 MW/140 MWh, quoting ₹448,996 (~$5,424)/MW/month, and IndiGrid won the remaining 180 MW/360 MWh, quoting ₹449,996 (~$5,436)/MW/month.

The tariff quoted in the auction was 58.43% lower than the ₹1.08 million (~$13,045)/MW/month quoted by JSW Energy for the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s auction to set up 500 MW/1,000 MWh BESS projects in August 2022.

The other participants who failed to qualify in the financial bid opening are JSW Neo Energy, Hero Solar Energy, NTPC Renewable Energy, ACME Solar Holdings, SJVN Green Energy, and Vent Renewables.

GUVNL had floated the tender for projects in November 2023.

The projects must be developed under a build, own, and operate model. GUVNL seeks to utilize energy storage systems on an on-demand basis, suited to the requirements of the state distribution companies during peak and off-peak hours.

The projects must be completed within 18 months from the effective date of the battery energy storage purchase agreement (BESPA).

The power rating of the project capacity of 500 MWh (250 MW x 2 hours) BESS will be 250 MW, i.e., the maximum value of the active output and input power at the delivery point. The system’s energy rating of 500 MWh will be the dispatchable capacity measured at the metering point.

The BESS will be charged by drawing power from the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation network per the dispatch instructions issued by the state load despatch center. Charging and discharging of the system will be under the scope of GUVNL.

Gensol and IndiGrid will be responsible for the maintenance of the transmission system up to the interconnection point. They must also bear the entire infrastructure construction cost from the project up to the interconnection point. They must guarantee a minimum system availability of 95% annually.

The tender had specified that commercially established and operational technologies must be used in the project to minimize technology risks and comply with the codes and standards specified in the guidelines.

The companies have not specified the BESS technology that they will deploy.

In October last year, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation issued bids to set up five standalone BESS of 10 MW/40 MWh each in Uttar Pradesh.