Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Launches 500 MW/2000 MWh BESS Tender, Building on Landmark Precursor

Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL) has invited bids for a 500 MW/2000 MWh standalone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model, marking the state’s continued push into large-scale energy storage. The Request for Selection calls for projects with 4-hour discharge duration, minimum bid size of 50 MW/200 MWh, and bids in 50 MW increments. Selected developers will enter into a 15-year Battery Energy Storage Purchase Agreement (BESPA) with RVUNL, supported by Viability Gap Funding (VGF) disbursed into three tranches: 20 percent at financial close, 50 percent at commercial operation, and 30 percent after one year of operation.

Bidders are responsible for full engineering, procurement, construction, grid-interconnection and 15-year operations & maintenance, with stringent performance guarantees: ≥ 95 percent availability, ≥ 85 percent round-trip efficiency, and agreed capacity-degradation schedules. Financial bids will follow a single-stage, two-envelope process culminating in an e-reverse auction. The technical bid deadline is set for 23 September 2025, 11:00 Hrs, with price-bid opening to follow for technically qualified applicants.

This 500 MW tender builds on RRVUNL’s broader BESS programme. In July 2025, the utility launched its flagship 1,000 MW / 2,000 MWh STU-connected tender under a BOO model with a 12-year BESPA; the bid window remains open until 26 August 2025.

Earlier, RRVUNL awarded a 500 MW / 1,000 MWh standalone BESS auction floated in September 2024—allocating capacity to Solarworld Energy Solutions, Oriana Power, Rays Power Experts and JSW Neo Energy—and has since executed BESPAs with developers such as JSW Neo Energy (250 MW / 500 MWh) and Oriana Power (50 MW / 100 MWh). Complementing these procurement drives, the Government of Rajasthan’s Integrated Clean Energy Policy (May 2025) mandates co-location of BESS with solar installations and requires battery integration for all new renewable projects above 5 MW—measures designed to enhance grid flexibility and fast-track the state’s clean-energy transition

India targets in BESS by FY 2029-30 under the CEA’s Optimal Generation Mix; Rajasthan’s back-to-back tenders signal a shift from pilot-scale storage toward utility-scale deployments. With cumulative BESS awards in India poised to exceed 8 GWh this year, state utilities like RRVUNL are refining contract tenors, offtake structures and performance norms to make energy storage commercially bankable and central to India’s renewable transition.

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