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Solarworld & H.G. Infra Win GUVNL’s 500 MW BESS Auction Under Phase VI

Solarworld Energy Solutions and H.G. Infra Engineering have emerged as winners in GUVNL’s (Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd.) latest auction to develop a 500 MW/1,000 MWh standalone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) under tariff-based competitive bidding (Phase VI).

Solarworld secured 200 MW at a tariff of Rs280,000/MW/month, while H.G. Infra won 300 MW at Rs285,600/MW/month. The tender was launched in January 2025, and notably, these projects are not eligible for Viability Gap Funding (VGF).

The awarded developers must build and connect the BESS to the state transmission network. GUVNL will have on-demand access for charging and discharging the storage systems, with the requirement of two operational cycles per day and at least 95% system availability annually.

Technical requirements include the use of commercially proven technologies, a C-rate of 0.5, and AC-to-AC round-trip efficiency of 85% monthly. The BESS must also support flexible grouping from 50 MW/100 MWh to 100 MW/200 MWh. Power for charging will be drawn from GETCO and dispatched per SLDC instructions.

This auction follows GUVNL’s earlier Phase V draft tender for 200 MW/1,600 MWh BESS. The Ministry of Power aims to finalize all BESS awards by June 2025 to implement the VGF scheme by May 2027.