Neyvveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) India has scrapped the auction of 20 MW solar with battery energy storage system (BESS) that was conducted by it in October 2017.

When contacted after the latest development, an NLC official told Mercom, “Yes, that auction will be scrapped. A fresh tender will be issued with less BESS capacity and the details will be made available soon. Back then too, we (NLC) had not committed that Mahindra Susten will be developing the projects 100 percent.”

A Mahindra Susten official told Mercom, “We are aware of the statement made by the NLC. We had quoted a good price for the project, apart from that I cannot say anything more.

Mercom had previously reported that Mahindra Susten, had quoted a project cost of ₹2.988 billion (~$45.6 million) to develop the 20 MW solar project along with the required BESS of 28 MWh. The company quoted ₹1.788 billion (~$27.3 million) as the cost of Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) and ₹1.2 billion (~$18.3 million) as the cost of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the project.

Back then, an NLC official had told Mercom, “We have conducted the auction and discovered the L1 bidder, but this does not mean the conclusion of the auction; the contracts haven’t yet been awarded. The NLC will take some time to consider the viability and project feasibility, and then award the BESS contracts.”

NLC India had tendered the projects in Andaman and Nicobar in May 2017. This was the first major BESS tender for which the financial bids had been received.

With this announcement, most of the battery energy storage tenders in India have now been canceled.

Image credit: NLC India