The Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited has issued a request for bids to procure short-term energy storage services from a 50 MW/100 MWh standalone battery system, with the contract set to run from November 1, 2026, through October 31, 2027.

SECI, a Navratna Government of India enterprise operating under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, will select an energy storage system developer through a tariff-based competitive bidding process.

The procurement follows a single-stage, two-envelope structure and will conclude with an electronic reverse auction.

Scope and Eligibility Requirements

The tender covers a system providing two hours of storage capacity and is designed to support grid operations on an on-demand basis. Critically, participation is limited to energy storage projects that are already operational.

Bidders must have commissioned their systems and interconnected them with the Inter-State Transmission System and must have declared their Commercial Operation Date on or before the bid submission deadline. Projects still under development or construction are therefore not eligible to participate.

The selected developer will enter into an Energy Storage Purchase Agreement with SECI covering the one-year contract period. SECI retains full rights under the agreement to schedule both the charging and discharging of the storage system.

Financial Requirements for Bidders

SECI has stipulated several financial conditions that prospective bidders must satisfy before participating. A document fee of 523.31 USD plus applicable goods and services tax is required, along with a bid processing fee of 10,449 USD plus GST. Both payments must be made through NEFT or RTGS bank transfers.

Bidders are additionally required to submit an Earnest Money Deposit of 0.25 million USD, which can be provided in the form of a bank guarantee or an insurance surety bond. The EMD must remain valid for six months from the date of bid submission.

Once a developer has been selected and receives a letter of award, they will have ten days to furnish a performance bank guarantee of 0.63 million USD. The agreement itself is set to become effective either 20 days after the Letter of Award is issued or by October 31, 2026, whichever comes first, ensuring the storage services are available from November 1, 2026.

Operational Parameters and Availability Standards

The operational framework established by SECI sets specific technical thresholds that the selected developer must meet throughout the contract period. The energy storage system may be operated for one to two cycles per day, with a ceiling of 485 operational cycles across the entire contract duration.

Developers must maintain a minimum annual system availability of 95 percent. On a monthly basis, the system must achieve a minimum AC-to-AC round-trip efficiency of 85 percent.

Round-trip efficiency measures the proportion of energy that can be recovered from the system relative to the energy used to charge it, and it is a key indicator of how effectively a storage system performs in real-world grid operations.

Bids will be evaluated on the basis of a single monthly capacity charge quoted in Indian rupees per megawatt per month, allowing for direct comparison between competing offers through the reverse auction mechanism.

Penalty Structure for Underperformance

The tender includes a tiered penalty regime to enforce performance standards. If a developer fails to meet the 95 percent annual availability requirement, liquidated damages will be calculated at twice the monthly capacity charges for the portion of capacity that was unavailable.

On the efficiency side, if the monthly round-trip efficiency falls below the 85 percent threshold. The penalties escalate significantly if performance deteriorates further. Should monthly round-trip efficiency drop below 70 percent, SECI will withhold the entire monthly tariff payment in addition to any other applicable penalties.

This structure creates strong financial incentives for developers to maintain consistent system performance throughout the contract year.

Grid Stability Goals Behind the Procurement

SECI has framed the initiative as a measure to address several interconnected challenges arising from India's rapidly expanding renewable energy capacity. The storage system is expected to contribute to peak demand management by making energy available during periods of high consumption.

It is also intended to enable energy shifting, allowing power generated during periods of surplus renewable output to be stored and dispatched when needed.

Beyond those functions, the procurement is aimed at addressing grid balancing requirements and improving overall system flexibility. As solar and wind generation grow as a share of India's energy mix, the variability inherent in those sources places increasing demands on grid operators to manage supply and demand in real time.

Short-term energy storage arrangements of this kind represent one mechanism through which grid operators seek to maintain reliability while scaling up clean energy capacity.

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