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The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), has invited bids for setting up 2,000 megawatts (MW) of grid-connected solar projects equipped with co-located energy storage systems (ESS). The move marks a major step toward stabilising India’s renewable energy grid and advancing the country’s 2030 climate and energy security targets.

According to the bid document released on SECI's website on Thursday, the projects will be developed under a tariff-based competitive bidding mechanism (SECI-ISTS-XX), with the solar plants to be connected to the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS). Each project will also be required to integrate 1000 MW/4000 MWh of energy storage capacity, PTI reported.

The tender follows a February advisory from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which emphasised the need for co-locating energy storage with solar power generation to enhance cost-efficiency and ensure better grid reliability. The CEA’s guidelines are part of a broader national strategy to manage the intermittency of solar power by smoothing out supply peaks and troughs through storage solutions.

“The projects shall be located at the locations chosen by the bidder/solar power developer (SPD) at its own discretion and cost, risk, and responsibility,” the document stated. It added that a single project can be set up at multiple locations with separate delivery points, provided the ESS component is co-located with at least one of the sites.

Under the bid’s special conditions, each 1 MW of solar capacity must be paired with a minimum of 0.5 MW/2 MWh of energy storage capacity. The ESS must be charged exclusively with solar energy; charging from any other source would disqualify the component from being considered part of the solar project.