[SMM Analysis]India's SECI Issues Large-Scale Solar Plus 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 + energy storage system (BESS) 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. The addition of BESS to the projects will enable power supply during peak electricity 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.

SECI's tenders, along with those of 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 under operation and construction.

According to CEA's briefing on the event, SECI emphasized that the tendered electricity prices for its solar + BESS projects had decreased from INR 6.99 per unit in August 2018 to INR 3.09 per unit in September 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 + BESS, and Firm, Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE)). According to him, SECI has so far conducted two rounds of tenders for solar + BESS projects, awarding 1,200 MW of solar PV and 1,200 MWh of BESS projects in March 2024, and 2,000 MW of solar PV and 4,000 MWh of BESS projects in August 2024. Despite these successes, tenders for solar + BESS projects in India are still in their 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 + BESS tenders. Additionally, construction is underway for 1.2 GW of solar PV and 1.2 GWh of BESS projects, while another 3.4 GW of solar PV to 5.4 GWh of BESS projects have been awarded but not yet constructed, with the average project cycle lengthening. Some tendered projects have also been canceled, indicating that challenges may arise during the project advancement process.

SMM New Energy Industry Research Department

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Xiaodan Yu 021-20707870

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Yujun Liu 021-20707895

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