NVVN Issues 250 MW/1000 MWh BESS Tender With VGF Support

NVVN, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Limited, has issued a tender for a 250 MW/1000 MWh standalone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support. The tender includes a greenshoe option for an additional capacity of up to 250 MW/1000 MWh. It has set March 24, 2025

NVVN has been nominated as the BESS Implementing Agency (BIA) by the Ministry of Power, Government of India (GoI) under the VGF scheme for the development of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The minimum bid size for the NVVN tender is 200 MWh, i.e., 50 MW x 4 hours.

Additionally, NVVN may allocate and tie up an additional capacity of up to 250 MW/1000 MWh under the greenshoe option. The selection of project developers will be based on the project capacity offered by the bidders. The tender specifies that a single bid must offer a minimum cumulative project capacity of 50 MW/200 MWh and a maximum cumulative project capacity of 125 MW/500 MWh.

The tender states: “The BESSD can install, operate, and maintain the BESS to provide NVVN with the facility to discharge the BESS on an ‘on-demand’ basis. It shall guarantee a minimum system availability of 95% on a monthly basis.”

Additionally, the tender mandates that NVVN must ensure the offtake of 95% of the total discharged energy from the BESSD on a monthly basis. It further adds: “Subject to the condition that the BESSD has demonstrated a minimum availability of 95%. In case NVVN is unable to offtake the power, it shall pay 52.88% of the discovered composite energy tariff to the BESSD for the difference between the energy made available by the BESSD (commensurate with a maximum of 95% availability) and the energy scheduled by NVVN on a monthly basis.”

Viability Gap Funding

The NVVN tender mentioned, “The  VGF amount eligible for each developer to set up the battery energy storage system (Project) is limited to ₹27,00,000/MWh or 30% of the capital cost of the awarded project capacity, whichever is lower.”

The BIA reserves the right to recover the disbursed VGF amount through the encashment of the Bank Guarantee (BG) if the Battery Energy Storage Development and Procurement Agreement (BEDPA) is terminated within the first five years after the Commercial Operation Date (COD) due to reasons solely attributable to the BESSD. Regardless of the year of termination within the first five years after COD, the recoverable VGF amount will be the disbursed amount plus interest at SBI-MCLR (1 Year) plus 5%, as applicable on the disbursement date, accruing from the disbursement date.