Sembcorp has successfully bid into a Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) tender to build a large-scale solar PV project paired with battery storage.
Singapore-headquartered engineering firm Sembcorp announced the receipt of a letter of award (LOA) from the Indian government agency this morning. Sembcorp has won the rights to construct a 150MW solar PV and 300MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project on a build-own-operate basis.
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The LOA was issued to the firm’s local renewable independent power producer (IPP) subsidiary Sembcorp Green Infra Private Limited (SGIPL) following a SECI tender for solar PV and energy storage hybrid projects that will connect to the national Inter State Transmission System (ISTS).
SECI was seeking 2GW of solar PV systems paired with 4GWh of BESS, and Sembcorp’s contract is thought to be the first announced since the solicitation was launched in July.
As reported by Energy-Storage.news at that time, SECI intends to enter 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with winning bidders and projects must enter commercial operation within 24 months of PPAs being signed.
The tender required that developers’ plans include 0.5MW/2MWh (4-hour duration) storage for every 1MW of solar PV capacity. Minimum bids were 50MW solar, and no bidder was to be awarded contracts for capacity exceeding 1,000MW.
While Sembcorp has built or has under contract a cumulative 6GW of renewable energy projects in India to date, the win marks its first project in the country to combine renewables with battery storage. Sembcorp said the project will be financed with a combination of internal funds and debt.
Elsewhere, Sembcorp has been involved in numerous standalone or hybrid BESS projects in the UK. In its home country, it has delivered Southeast Asia’s biggest battery storage system to date, a 200MW project on Singapore’s Jurong Island completed in 2023.
Tenders changing the game for energy storage in India
Tenders from SECI and other Indian state-owned entities such as the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and electricity distribution companies (‘Discoms’) are driving competition in India’s fledgling energy storage market.
Separate to renewables-plus-storage tenders such as the 2GW/4GWh reverse auction for 4-hour block peak renewable energy which Sembcorp won its deal in, SECI has hosted procurements for firm dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE).
Meanwhile a much-anticipated SECI tender for 4GWh of standalone battery storage, supported by government viability gap funding (VGF), launched in March and was quickly followed in July by another for 1GW/2GWh of standalone BESS, with 12-year Battery Energy Storage Purchase Agreements (BESPA) up for award.
Also in July, various experts, including World Economic Forum (WEF) India lead Debmalya Sen, commented that tenders have been a game changer for energy storage and renewables in India, noting how they have put downward pressure on costs.
Some sources Energy-Storage.news has spoken with have commented, however, that some developers may struggle to deliver projects at the low prices they bid. A report from market research firm Mercom Capital earlier this year noted that as of March 2024, around 90% of India’s 219MW of installed battery storage capacity was paired with solar PV.
