SECI invites bids for 2,000 MW solar project with energy storage system

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State-owned SECI on Thursday invited bids for setting up a 2,000 MW solar project with co-located energy storage systems in India.

In February, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) issued an advisory on co-locating energy storage systems with solar power projects, a move aimed at enhancing the cost efficiency and stability of the grid.

As per the bid document on the SECI website, the selection of a solar power developer (SPD) for the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) grid-connected project with 1000 MW/4000 MWh Energy Storage Systems (ESS) will be under a tariff-based competitive bidding (SECI-ISTS-XX) process.

Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI), under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), is a nodal agency for auctioning renewable energy projects.

The last date to submit online bid is July 22, and for offline it is July 24, 2025. The bids will be opened on July 25.

"The projects shall be located at the locations chosen by the bidder/SPD at its own discretion and cost, risk and responsibility," the document said.

A single project can be set up at multiple locations with different delivery points. The ESS component needs to be co-located with the project. However, in case of a project at multiple locations, the ESS needs to be co-located with at least one of the components, it said.

Under the special condition of the bid, "ESS of at least 0.5 MW/2 MWh capacity for 1 MW project capacity shall mandatorily be installed as part of the project. It is clarified that ESS charged using a source other than solar power would not qualify as solar power".

As per the National Electricity Plan published by the Central Electricity Authority, in order to integrate the 364 GW of solar and 121 GW of wind capacity by 2031-32, India would require 73.93 GW/411.4 GWh of storage capacity (26.69 GW/175.18 GWh from PSP - Pumped Storage Project - and 47.24 GW/236.22 GWh from BESS).