The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has commissioned a 40 MW/120 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project associated with a 100 MW solar power project in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh.

The corporation claims this to be the largest BESS project to be commissioned in India to date.

SECI had first floated the tender for the project with the solar power component in September 2020 and later modified it in November 2020 and retendered it in July 2021.

The engineering, procurement, and construction contract was awarded to Tata Power in December 2021.

The energy generated and stored at the project will be purchased by Chhattisgarh to meet its peak energy demand and renewable purchase obligations. SECI has signed a long-term power purchase agreement with the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited (CSPDCL)

The solar project has deployed bifacial modules generating power during the daytime to be stored on the BESS and used during the peak evening hours.

The project has utilized 451 acres of wasteland across nine villages in Tehsil Dongargarh and Dongargaon, District Rajnandgaon, through a tripartite land-use permission agreement among the Energy Department of the Government of Chhattisgarh, CSPDCL, and SECI.

The power from the project will be evacuated through a 132 kV double-circuit double-string transmission line to Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Company Limited’s 220/132 kV Thelkadih substation.

The project construction was funded by the World Bank and Clean Technology Fund under Innovation in Solar Power and Hybrid Technologies Projects. It also received financing support from domestic lending agencies.

In November 2021, SECI had invited expressions of interest from banks to extend a term loan of ₹4 billion (~$48.27 million) with a tenor of 15 years to develop two solar photovoltaic projects of 100 MW capacity each, which included the project developed at Rajnandgaon and a floating solar project in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

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