SECI awards Konark solar-plus-storage project at Rs 2.60/kWh
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has awarded a 10 MW solar project with a co-located 10 MW/20 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to BNC Power Projects Limited at a tariff of Rs 2.60/kWh. The project did not draw any viability gap funding (VGF) support available under the scheme.
SECI had floated the tender in February 2026, with the award finalised three months later. Power generated from the project will be supplied by SECI to GRIDCO Limited. Under the project terms, GRIDCO will specify a two-hour daily discharge window for the BESS on a day-ahead basis, and the developer will be required to maintain adequate storage capacity to meet those discharge obligations.
The project is part of a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) initiative aimed at achieving 100% solarisation of the Konark Sun Temple and Konark town in Odisha. It falls under Batch-IV of Phase-II of the National Solar Mission, for which guidelines were issued in March 2016.
The scheme had provided for VGF support of up to Rs 1 crore/MW, subject to a maximum payable tariff ceiling of Rs 2.70/kWh over a 25-year period. BNC Power Projects secured the project at a tariff below that threshold without availing any VGF support, indicating continued cost competitiveness in the solar-plus-storage segment.
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