NTPC has floated an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) tender to set up 2,670 MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) at nine of its thermal power stations across six states under Lot-2.

The capacity to be installed per thermal station, as well as the average annual turnover required for bidders per location, is as follows:

Bids must be submitted by December 30, 2025. Bids will be opened on the same day.

Bidders must furnish the following earnest money deposit (EMD) per capacity:

• ₹20 million (~$221,637.4) for up to 100 MWh capacity
• ₹50 million (~$554,093.5) for capacities between 101 MWh to 350 MWh
• ₹100 million (~$1.11 million) for capacities between 351 MWh to 650 MWh
• ₹200 million (~$2.21 million) for capacities between 651 MWh to 1,600 MWh
• ₹500 million (~$5.54 million) for capacities between 1,601 MWh to 2,670 MWh

Selected bidders must submit a performance guarantee of 10% of the contract value for project implementation and 4% for annual maintenance.

Apart from setting up the BESS, the scope of work entails providing interconnection with the existing thermal stations. It also involves providing comprehensive annual maintenance for 11 years for all stations except for the one in Barauni. Maintenance for the Barauni thermal station must be provided for 14 years.

The BESS must include a battery management system, an energy management system, supervisory control and data acquisition, a power conversion system, and inverter duty transformers. It must also include 33 kV pooling switchgear, protection and communication systems, high- and low-tension systems, auxiliary power systems, firefighting equipment, and remote control and monitoring systems.

Selected bidders must provide all project equipment, including structural steel. They must also conduct all the civil and allied works for the design, installation, manufacturing, installation, testing, commissioning, and delivery of the BESS projects.

Successful bidders must also supply the labor, accessories, and spare parts for the projects.

Projects in Barauni, Khargone, and Vallur must be completed within 18 months. The remaining projects must be completed within 15 months.

Delays in project commissioning will attract liquidated damages of 0.5% of the total contract value per week capped at 5%.

Bidders must have executed any of the following:

• Manufactured and supplied batteries of a minimum cumulative BESS capacity of 20 MWh. At least one of these BESS projects must have had a capacity of at least 5 MWh and been commissioned at least six months before the bid opening date
• Supplied, installed or supervised the installation of BESS with a minimum cumulative installed capacity of 20 MWh. At least one of these BESS projects must have had a capacity of at least 5 MWh and commissioned at least six months before the bid opening date
• Designed or engineered, supplied, erected, or supervised the erection, and commissioned or supervised the commissioning of solar or wind power projects of a minimum cumulative installed capacity of 40 MW. At least one of these projects must have had a minimum capacity of 10 MW and been operational for at least six months before the bid opening date
• Executed industrial projects worth ₹3.75 billion (~$41.5 million) in the power, steel, oil and gas, petro-chemical, fertilizer, cement, flue gas desulphurization, or any other process industry in the last ten years before the tender publishing date as a developer or an EPC contractor. At least one of these projects must have been worth ₹1.5 billion (~$16.62 million) and operational for six months before the bid opening date

Bidders must have also executed at least one electrical substation of a minimum 33 kV voltage level either as a developer or an EPC contractor. The substation must have included equipment such as circuit breakers and power transformers at a voltage level of at least 33 kV. It must have been operational for at least six months before the bid opening date.

 

Recently, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam issued a request for selection for BESS developers to establish a 125 MW/500 MWh standalone BESS project in Chhattisgarh.

In August this year, NTPC Green Energy invited bids for the EPC of 80 MW/320 MWh BESS at Kerala State Electricity Board’s Pothencode and Sreekantapuram substations.