With a winning bid of Rs 10.84 lakh per megawatt, JSW Energy has emerged as the lowest bidder in the pilot large-scale battery storage auction. Considered one of the largest in the world, the Solar Energy Corp of India’s (SECI) battery storage auction concluded on Thursday. SECI was examining the bids.

In the auction, seven other companies also participated. Acme Barmer Solar, Sterlite Power Transmission, NTPC Renewable Energy, Renew Solar Power, Hartree Partners Singapore, Eden Renewable Vavin Pvt Ltd, and Azure Power. Reliance Industries, Adani Power, and Tata Power had shown interest in the early stages of the tender but did not bid. Acme Solar stood second with a bid of Rs 10.85 lakh per MW. The price difference between the highest and lowest bidder was 111%.

It is to be noted that the tender is for two battery storage projects at a single site at Fatehgarh-III substations in Rajasthan. The land is going to be provided by SECI on a lease. SECI will likely enter into a battery energy storage purchase agreement with winning bidders. The systems will be delivered on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis.
As per new government norms, states must meet a quarter of their power demand through renewable energy sources in the current year, scalable to 47% in the next eight years. Recently, India also mandated power distribution companies (Discom) to have energy storage requirements and renewable energy purchase obligations.