Tata Power Solar Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Power, has been formally awarded the tender for the largest PV-plus-storage project in India to date by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Located in the state of Chhattisgarh, the tendered project will comprise 100MW of PV generation capacity and 120MWh of battery energy storage capacity. The value of the tender contract is around INR 9.45 billion (USD 126 million). Tata Solar Power Systems will be responsible for not only EPC but also O&M for a 10-year period. This story was first reported by Indian news platforms including Economic Times and Business Standard on December 1.Tata Power is currently the largest private integrated solar enterprise in India, while SECI is a company under the control of the country’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The project is set to be completed within 18 months. During this period, Tata Power Solar Systems will be involved in engineering, design, supply, construction, installation, testing, and commissioning. Afterwards, the company also will be operating and maintaining the entire PV-plus-storage plant.
Tata Power stated that its incoming EPC orders related to utility-scale projects have reached 4.4GWdc in generation capacity and more than USD 1.2 billion in value. This achievement highlights the company’s status as the leading provider of EPC services in the Indian solar market.
According to the reporting by various energy news websites, Tata Power has already completed many large-scale PV projects across India. Examples include the 100MW Raghanesda Solar Park in the state of Gujarat and the 50MW Kasargod Solar Park in the state of Kerala. Tata Power was awarded the tender for India’s first PV-plus-storage project this August. This project, which is located in Ladakh, will have a generation capacity of 50MW and a battery energy storage capacity of 50MWh.
India’s “National Solar Mission” aims to expand the total domestic installed PV generation capacity to 100GW by 2022. SECI was specifically set up to drive PV installations with tenders and incentive programs. Tata Power and SECI have already entered into an agreement for the procurement of 200MW of PV generation capacity.
Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO and managing director of Tata Power, said that his team is pleased to have secured the largest PV-plus-storage tender from SECI. This is the second project of its kind in Tata Power’s portfolio and represents a “recognition” of the company’s leadership in project execution.
In addition to developing utility-scale PV projects, Tata Power Solar Systems also installs rooftop PV systems and solar water pumps. Its production base in the Indian city of Bangalore is now capable of outputting 530MW of mono-Si PERC cells and 580MW of modules featuring the half-cut cell configuration