Greenko Group appears lowest bidder for NTPC's 300 MWh energy storage tender

Industry Outlook Team | Friday, 09 December 2022

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Hyderabad-based Greenko Group has come out as the lowest bidder in the world’s first and largest technology agnostic storage tender from NTPC Renewable Energy Limited (NTPC REL), the renewable arm of NTPC Limited. Greenko is backed by GIC Holdings, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Japan’s ORIX Corp.

Greenko was the lowest bidder for 3,000 megawatt hours (MWh) tender, challenging with Italy’s Enel Group Indian section Enel Green Power (EGP), JSW Neo Energy Ltd, Hinduja Renewables Energy Private Ltd, HES Infra, and India Grid Trust (IndiGrid). Greenko’s lowest offer was for Rs 5 per kWh on a single cycle per day basis, with effective storage charges to be far lower than Rs 2.5 per kWh.

Bid values were as high as 216%, made by Hinduja Renewables Energy and as low as 0% and 12.50% made by Greenko Group.

The tender saw participation from multiple technologies such as Li-Ion Battery, Na-S Battery, Pumped Storage Project and Compressed Air Storage technology for supply of 500 megawatt for six hours for a 25 year period. NTPC plans to supply round the clock electricity to the commercial and industrial (C&I) section.

Open access permits large users of electricity to buy power from the open market, against relying on a more expensive grid. In a statement, the firm said it is developing the energy storage platform based on pumped storage technology (PSP) and has projects totalling 50 GigaWatt hour storage capacity already under development.

"This storage tender establishes a model for procurement of long duration energy storage capacity by RE Generators and utilities for creating decarbonized power supply solutions," said Greenko Group in a press statement, adding that the tender establishes pumped storage technology as the preferred and lowest cost long duration energy storage solution.

With India’s largest operational clean energy portfolio of 7.5 gigawatt (GW), Greenko is setting up 50 gigawatt hour (GWh) of storage capacity on pumped storage technology (PSP), as part of its plan to set up an energy storage cloud platform of 100 GWh. National Investment and Infrastructure Fund’s (NIIF) Ayana Renewable Power. has also partnered with Greenko Group to store 6-GWh of power in hydro pump storage plants that Greenko is building at Pinnapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

The firm said this winning bid is remarkable in view of the storage charges discovered in another recent energy storage procurement tender based on battery energy storage systems by SECI ($/MWh 120).

Taking in account the fact that PSP can deliver more than one cycle per day without any impact on the performance, effective storage charges can be significantly lower ($/MWh 29), it said.

"The storage solution provided by Greenko is also unique as it has minimal/ no long-term environmental impact over the entire life cycle and Scope 2/3 emissions are fully quantifiable as compared to other competing energy storage technologies," the company stated.

Energy storage is likely to play an important role in India's commitment to meet its net-zero emission targets by 2070 as India plans to store cheap green power during off-peak hours in pump storage projects and release it for consumption when the electricity demand increases.

Greenko has been on an expansion spree wherein it united with Singapore-based Keppel Infrastructure Holdings Pte Ltd (Keppel Infrastructure) to jointly produce at least 250,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year. In September Korean steelmaker Posco Holdings partnered with Greenko subsidiary ZeroC for producing Green Hydrogen, Ammonia and related derivatives in India for both the domestic and export markets.

The company also aligned with state-run ONGC to develop green ammonia production and storage facilities for export purposes. The facility will have a capacity to produce one million tonne per annum of green ammonia through a 1.3 gigawatts (GW) green hydrogen plant.