CERC Rejects SECI's 1st Battery Storage Project Over Two-Year Delay

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the quasi-judicial apex sector regulator, has rejected the tariff discovered in the first ever grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) offered by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

- SHREYA JAI

SECI, which is the renewable energy project tendering agency under the aegis of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, awarded this project in 2022.

CERC has cited the "delay in signing power supply and purchase agreements (PSAs and PPAs)" and the reduction in BESS prices over the past two years as the reason for rejecting the tariff. Delay in signing PSAs and PPAs for SECI's awarded projects is already at the centre of the controversy involving the Adani group's alleged bribery case under investigation in the US.

A spokesperson for SECI did not respond to emailed queries until the time of going to press. JSW Energy, in an exchange notification on January 3, said it will appeal the decision.

The project in question now is the 1,000-megawatt (MW) BESS project offered by SECI in April 2022. This was the first BESS tender issued after the standard bidding guidelines were issued by the Ministry of Power for energy storage projects in the country.