IndiGrid 2, a wholly owned subsidiary of India Grid Trust along with Amperehour Solar Technology, has received a letter of award from BSES Rajdhani Power (BRPL) for the design, supply, testing, installation, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of 20 MW/40 MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in Delhi.

The consortium will envisage the project on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer basis for a period of 12 years. It expects to generate an annual revenue of ₹20 million (~$240,392).

Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), a global climate financing alliance, will finance 70% of the total capital investment cost through debt financing.

The company did not disclose the BESS technology that will be deployed for the project and the total contract cost.

“We are very excited to announce that IndiGrid has received a letter of award for its first BESS Project. Given the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources and significant capacity expansion, energy storage requirements in the power system will exponentially grow. Being one of the leading electricity infrastructure players across renewable and transmission segments, BESS projects are one of the focus areas for IndiGrid. Over the last few years, we have, on a pilot basis, built capabilities to undertake BESS projects at our Dhule and Kallam Substations, thereby enabling us to undertake standalone BESS projects,” said Harsh Shah, the Chief Executive Officer of IndiGrid.

With a year-long construction period, the project will primarily be used for energy time-shift (arbitrage) and ancillary services such as frequency support capacity upgrade deferral and resource adequacy.

Earlier this year, the company recorded a profit of ₹1.07 billion (~$13 million) for the first quarter of the financial year 2024, a year-over-year increase of 28.8% from ₹830.72 million (~$10 million). The company’s portfolio includes 17 operating power projects consisting of 46 transmission lines with more than ~8,468 ckms length, 13 substations with 17,550 MVA transformation capacity, and 676 MW_dc of solar generation capacity. IndiGrid has assets under management of over ₹270 billion ($3.24 billion).

In September, the Union Cabinet approved viability gap funding (VGF) for the development of the BESS program with an initial allocation of ₹94 billion (~$1.1 billion), which includes budgetary support of ₹37.6 billion (~$452 million). The VGF aid can potentially offset as much as 40% of the project’s capital costs, contingent upon the projects being finalized and operational within an 18 to 24-month timeframe.