[SMM Analysis] India's SECI Issues Utility Solar + ESS Tender

On June 19, 2025, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) issued a Request for Selection (RfS) document, initiating a competitive tendering process. SECI, a government enterprise under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India, aims to advance the National Solar Mission.

Similar to other solar + ESS tenders previously organized by SECI, the successful developers will sign a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with SECI to carry out the projects under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model. SECI will then sell the electricity generated by the projects to designated buying entities. Incorporating a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) into the projects will enable the supply of electricity during peak consumption periods.

This means that the sellers will be required to deliver clean energy to the buyers during a 6-hour peak period each day, specifically from 6 PM to 9 AM the next morning. During each peak period selected by the buying entities, the batteries must have the capability to discharge continuously for 1 hour. Developers must be able to supply 3,000 kWh of electricity per megawatt alternating current (MWac) of installed solar PV capacity during the specified peak periods.

The pre-bid meeting for this tender is scheduled for July 10, 2025, and bidding will commence on August 21.

The tenders issued by SECI and other government agencies in India and abroad are considered to have driven the procurement process in India's emerging ESS sector. At a recent seminar organized by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), SECI staff presented the tendering situation of energy storage systems, electricity price trends, and the agency's experience with energy storage projects in operation and under construction.

According to a CEA briefing on the event, SECI emphasized that the tendered electricity prices for its solar + ESS projects had decreased from INR 6.99 per unit in August 2018 to INR 3.09 per unit in September of last year. In a recent guest blog for Energy Storage News, Debmalya Sen, President of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), elaborated on the transformative impact of three main types of energy storage tenders (including standalone ESS, solar + ESS, and Firm, Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE)). According to him, to date, SECI has conducted two rounds of tenders for solar + ESS projects, awarding 1,200 MW of solar PV and 1,200 MWh of ESS projects in March 2024, and 2,000 MW of solar PV and 4,000 MWh of ESS projects in August 2024. Despite these successes, the tendering of solar + ESS projects in India is still in its early stages. As shown in the chart by IESA President Debmalya Sen, only 200 MW of solar PV and 200 MWh of BESS are currently in operation through solar + ESS tenders. In addition, the construction of 1.2 GW of solar PV and 1.2 GWh of ESS projects is underway, while another 3.4 GW of solar PV to 5.4 GWh of ESS projects have been awarded but not yet constructed, with the average project cycle lengthening. Some tender projects have also been canceled, indicating that challenges may arise during the progress of some projects.

SMM New Energy Industry Research Department

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Yanlin Lv 021-20707875

Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711

Haohan Zhang 021-51666752

Zihan Wang 021-51666914

Jie Wang 021-51595902

Yang Xu 021-51666760

Bolin Chen 021-51666836