The electricity board of Gujarat in India has opened a competitive solicitation for renewable energy paired with energy storage systems (ESS) to bring electricity to off-grid villages in the state.
Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) is Gujarat’s state-owned utility responsible administering the bulk sale and purchase of power on behalf of its government’s re-organisation scheme.
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GUVNL is seeking to enter power purchase agreements (PPAs) for up to 500MW of grid-connected renewable energy and ESS capable of delivering the peak power requirements of local distribution companies (discoms). The utility group issued a Request for Selection (RfS) yesterday (14 June).
The 25-year PPAs will help GUVNL to meet its renewable power purchase obligations (RPPO) as well as the future needs of discoms.
Projects proposed can be either solar PV, wind or a combination of both, paired with energy storage. However, certain minimum capacity requirements apply based on the chosen combination: for instance, plants with wind and a co-located storage system without solar must be 25MW or more.
Meanwhile other configurations have a 50MW minimum requirement, and other stipulations apply such that if a wind-solar and battery hybrid is proposed, the smaller of the two renewable energy systems must be sized to at least 33% of the total contracted capacity.
Energy storage systems must provide 1MWh of storage capacity for every two megawatts contracted to be sold through the PPAs.
Peak time and off-peak time tariffs will be paid to winning projects, with off-peak tariffs set at a flat rate of IR2.29/kWh (US$0.029/kWh) and peak tariffs to be determined through the tender’s reverse auction mechanism.
Projects can be proposed for installation anywhere within the state of Gujarat.
The solicitation is technologically agnostic in terms of energy storage and is not necessarily limited to batteries. The contracts signed will require the systems to be able to deliver power during six-hours of daily peak demand periods: two in the morning peak and four hours in the evening peak.
Bid submission deadlines are at the end of July and in early August.
India’s national goal of installing 450GW of wind and solar by 2030 runs alongside a national mission to bring electricity to its many rural areas.
The tender follows various other solicitations held by Union government entities including the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) which is seeking to procure 500MW/1,000MWh of standalone battery storage in a pilot tender which is expected to be followed by similar procurements up to 4,000MWh. State-owned power generation group NTPC recently also said it will be tendering for 500MWh.
Don’t miss our free webinar, “Learn about India’s current and future business models for energy storage,” with Clean Horizon and guest speakers from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Customised Energy Solutions. It takes place on Wednesday 22 June and you can register to attend here.
