New Delhi: The Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) has invited bids for the short-term utilisation of a 50 MW/100 MWh standalone Energy Storage System (ESS) to support grid operations as India integrates a growing share of renewable energy, Solar Quarter reported.
Under the Request for Selection (RfS) issued on August 28, 2026, SECI will select an Energy Storage System Developer (ESSD) to provide 100 MWh of storage capacity on an on-demand basis.
The system will have two hours of storage capacity and will be procured through a tariff-based competitive bidding process, followed by an electronic reverse auction.
The selected developer will sign an Energy Storage Purchase Agreement (ESPA) with SECI for one year, from November 1, 2026, to October 31, 2027.
The tender is open only to operational energy storage projects that have already been commissioned, are connected to the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) and had declared their commercial operation date on or before the bid submission deadline.
SECI has set a document fee of Rs 50,000 plus GST and a bid processing fee of Rs 10 lakh plus GST. Bidders must also submit an Earnest Money Deposit of Rs 2.40 crore, while the successful bidder will have to provide a Performance Bank Guarantee of Rs 6 crore within 10 days of receiving the Letter of Award.
Under the proposed operating framework, SECI will have full rights to schedule charging and discharging of the storage system. The ESS can be operated for one to two cycles a day, subject to a maximum of 485 cycles during the contract period.
The developer will be required to maintain at least 95% annual system availability and a minimum monthly AC-to-AC round-trip efficiency of 85%.
SECI has also specified financial penalties for underperformance. Failure to meet the availability requirement will attract liquidated damages equivalent to twice the monthly capacity charges for unavailable capacity. If monthly round-trip efficiency falls below 85%, a penalty of Rs 3.50 per kWh will apply to excess conversion losses.
For round-trip efficiency below 70%, SECI will withhold the entire monthly tariff payment in addition to applicable penalties.
Bids will be evaluated on the basis of a single monthly capacity charge quoted in Rs/MW/month.
The storage procurement is aimed at strengthening peak demand management, energy shifting and grid balancing, while improving the flexibility of India’s power system as renewable energy capacity continues to expand.
