West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company (WBSEDCL) has invited bids for the design, engineering, supply, construction, and commissioning of a 20 MW solar power project with a 100 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at Goaltore in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal (Phase II).

The successful bidder must also be responsible for the project’s operation and maintenance for 12 years.

The last date to submit bids is March 23, 2026. Bids will be opened on the same date.

The project will be located in Goaltore, west of Kolkata, adjacent to the 125 MW solar power project developed in Phase I.

The contractor must commit to guarantee a minimum annual energy generation from the solar project, calculated based on local weather conditions and the BESS’s minimum performance.

The project is backed by KfW Development Bank, with the international competitive bidding process to be guided by the latest version of KfW´s guidelines for the procurement of consulting services, works, plant, goods, and non-consulting services in financial cooperation with partner countries.

In October last year, WBSEDCL invited bids to set up a 250 MW/1,000 MWh standalone BESS, with an additional 250 MW/1,000 MWh under the greenshoe option, at the Goaltore substation in Paschim Midinipur.

Earlier, the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation invited bids to set up a 40 MW/80 MWh standalone BESS in Kolkata, West Bengal, under the build, own, operate, and transfer model.

As of June 2025, India’s cumulative installed battery storage capacity stood at 490 MWh, with solar-plus-storage projects accounting for the majority of deployments. As of June 2025, India had nearly 3.2 GWh of solar-plus-energy-storage projects.

The pipeline continues to expand rapidly, with nearly 74.8 GW of storage-linked capacity under various stages of tendering by mid-2025. Between July and November 2025, 24 GWh of storage tenders were issued, while 25.6 GWh were auctioned. They included standalone battery energy storage systems and solar-plus-storage systems.