Prostarm Wins Karnataka’s 150 MW/300 MWh BESS Tender at ₹2.54 L/MW/Month

Maharashtra-based Prostarm Info Systems has been declared the winner of the 150 MW/300 MWh standalone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) tender by Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL).

Prostarm Info Systems said in a regulatory filing, “The project comes with a VGF (State Component) at a rental of ₹2.54 lakh/MW/month (i.e., annual rental of ₹45.72 crore on 150 MW/300 MWh). This project will be developed on a Build-Own-Operate basis for 12 years. The project also offers VGF funding of ₹27 lakh/MWh or 30% of the capital cost for BESS, whichever is lower.”  The win is consistent with a broad benchmark price of Rs 2.50 lacs /MWh for BESS projects in India, albeit with some VGF support.  

The company added: “The project will include a 400 kV Doni substation (at 220 kV voltage level) of KPTCL, Gadag district, Karnataka.”

Previous Tender: A Brief Analysis

Prostarm Info had earlier won Bihar’s 30 MW/120 MWh standalone BESS project from the Bihar State Power Generation Company Limited (BSPGCL) in June this year. In that project, Prostarm received a rental of ₹4.44 lakh/MW/month, amounting to an annual rental of ₹15.98 crore. 

The project awarded under the KPTCL’s earlier 350 MW BESS tender, projects were awarded at tariffs between ₹2.49–2.54 lakh/MW/month. These were distributed among three winners: Sarla Project Works, Oriana Power, and Pace Digitek. According to KPTCL’s tender results, Sarla Project Works secured the 50 MWh project at the lowest bid of ₹2,49,500/MW/month. Oriana Power (TrueRE–Oriana Power) won 50 MWh at ₹2,54,490/MW/month, while Pace Digitek Limited secured the largest share of 250 MWh at the same tariff of ₹2,54,490/MW/month.

Meanwhile, government data showed that a total of 13,220 MWh of BESS capacity has been allocated under the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme so far in 2024, according to Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy and Power.

In response to a query on operational battery storage, Naik said nine BESS projects with individual capacities of at least 1 MWh are currently functional in the country, with a cumulative installed capacity of 204.5 MW/505.6 MWh.