Telangana Joins BESS Space With 250 MW/500 MWh Tender

Telangana Genco’s (TGGENCO) latest tender seeks to select BESS developers to build 500 MWh (250 MW x 2 hours). The tender invites bids from BESS developers to establish an “on-demand” battery storage system under Tariff-based Global Competitive Bidding with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) in Telangana. TGGENCO is accepting bids until February 21, 2025.

With the latest tender, Telangana has become the third state this year to issue standalone BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) tenders in January. A total of 2 GWh of standalone BESS tenders has been announced this month, first by GUVNL, then by NHPC (for KSEBL), and now by Telangana Power Generation Corporation (TGGENCO).

Telangana’s latest tender supports its goal of achieving 34 GW of solar capacity through grid-scale, floating, and distributed renewable energy systems under the draft Renewable Energy Policy 2024. With this tender, Telangana became the eighth state to issue a standalone BESS tender and the fifth state to do so under the VGF scheme. So far, eight tenders totaling 6.3 GWh (including the present tender) have been issued under the VGF scheme. The tender specifies that Telangana’s latest project will be located on a 12,000 sq. meter plot alongside the EHV substation identified for the BESS project (250 MW capacity) at the Shankerpally 400 kV substation. The tender offers a capacity of 100 MWh (50 MW x 2 hours) with a minimum bid size of 100 MWh (50 MW x 2 hours).

Commissioning Timeline

Additionally, the tender states: “The Scheduled Commissioning Date (SCD) for the commissioning of the full capacity of the Project shall be the date 18 months from the Effective Date of BESPA (e.g., if the Effective Date of the BESPA is 01.12.2024, then SCD shall be 31.05.2026). The maximum period allowed for commissioning the full Project/Contracted Capacity, with applicable liquidated damages, shall be limited to 9 months from the SCD or the extended SCD (if applicable). Moreover, the BESPA will be valid for 12 years from the date of full commissioning of the Project.”

VGF Amount

Under this tender: “The VGF amount eligible for each Developer shall be limited to the amount calculated at Rs. 27 Lakhs/MWh or 30% of the capital cost for BESS, whichever is lower.”