NTPC issues tender for 600 KW/ 3,000 KWh Vanadium Redox Flow BESS

Indian power utility National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has invited bids for the commissioning and integration of a 600 KW/ 3,000 KWh Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) system for long-duration energy storage (LDES) at NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance (NETRA) center in Greater Noida. 

The tender, issued late last week, mentions that the bidder must have designed, engineered, and commissioned VRFB systems of cumulative capacity of 2,400 kWh in one or maximum 5 orders in the last ten years. It further mandates that at least one such reference project, having at least 400 kWh capacity, should be in successful operation for at least 6 months. 

Under the EPC route, the bidder should have executed grid-connected Solar PV or off-grid solar-cum-storage project on EPC basis in the last ten years, with a minimum value of one such project as ₹114 million. The reference project should be in successful operation for at least 6 months prior to the date of techno-commercial bid opening, according to the tender. 

The 5-hour LDES will be installed at NTPC's NETRA R&D center located in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where the utility carries out its in-house technological and research activities. The last date for the submission of bids for the BESS tender is June 26. 

It is interesting to note a BESS tender exclusively calling for VRFB technology in India, where battery storage is still at a very nascent stage of commercialisation, with VRFB lagging far behind lithium-ion and pumped storage technologies. 

Back in 2022, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) installed a 50 KW/ 200 KWh VRFB storage system at Hyderabad, supplied by Spanish firm E22.