SECI Ramagiri Tender Pairs 70 MW Solar with a 25 MW/50 MWh BESS

Status as of 11 July 2026: SECI’s official tender page lists bids for Ramagiri Package 1 due at 14:00 on 24 July 2026, with opening at 16:00 the same day. The notice was published on 24 June and a pre-bid site-visit notice followed on 25 June. The reported deadline is current only until SECI or the authorised e-tender portal issues a corrigendum; bidders must check the live record before acting.

Key Tender Facts

What SECI is procuring

SECI is seeking a turnkey contractor for an ISTS-connected solar-plus-storage plant at Ramagiri. The official title covers the full delivery chain from design and engineering through supply, construction, erection, testing, commissioning and maintenance. Secondary technical reporting identifies the solar array as 70 MW AC and 91 MW DC, paired with a 25 MW/50 MWh battery energy storage system.

The package is part of a broader 50 MW firm and dispatchable renewable project. Reports describe Package 2 as a separate 45.6 MW wind tender. Package 1 storage is intended to deliver 25 MW for two hours.

This is an EPC procurement, not a developer-selection PPA tender. The contractor delivers assets and maintenance to SECI, pricing equipment, integration, schedule, tests, warranties and O&M rather than a 25-year energy tariff.

Commercial scope and bid process

SECI lists the tender as online with an e-reverse auction. Secondary reports describe a single-stage, two-envelope process under domestic competitive bidding. Technical and commercial responsiveness comes before price competition, so a low price cannot cure missing qualification documents or a non-compliant technical offer.

SolarQuarter reports a processing fee of ₹25,000 plus GST and earnest money of ₹3.81 crore, with specified instruments and possible MSE treatment under the tender. These values should be checked against the current contractual documents before submission. Bank-guarantee wording, validity, issuing branch and claim period are frequent causes of bid rejection.

The contract documents should be examined for payment milestones, price adjustment, taxes, performance security, liquidated damages, acceptance tests and liability caps. A solar-plus-BESS project has more long-lead and warranty interfaces than a solar-only plant. The contractor should map cash outflow for modules, cells, power conversion systems, transformers and civil works against milestone receipts.

The reported scope includes five years of comprehensive O&M after the specified completion milestone. O&M is not a minor add-on: storage degradation, augmentation responsibility, spare parts, software support and response time can materially affect lifecycle cost. Bidders need to identify whether augmentation is included in the fixed contract price and which performance level must be maintained through year five.

Solar design and DC/AC ratio

The reported 91 MW DC array against 70 MW AC yields a DC/AC ratio of 1.3. Oversizing can improve inverter utilisation and extend generation into shoulder hours, but it also increases clipping during high irradiance. In this project, charging the BESS may absorb energy that would otherwise be clipped, provided the electrical architecture and operating logic allow it.

Optimisation must consider the dispatch requirement, not annual solar yield alone. The design team should simulate PV production, inverter limits, battery charging power, state of charge, auxiliary loads and export constraints at short intervals. It should test seasonal and adverse-weather cases, not only a typical day.

Module layout, tracker or fixed-tilt selection, string sizing and inverter loading must fit site temperature and grid requirements. Geotechnical data, drainage and wind conditions influence foundations and schedule. The pre-bid site visit is therefore commercially relevant: unseen rock, access constraints or existing infrastructure can change quantities and methods.

The applicable module, inverter and local-content requirements must be read from the tender. SolarQuarter reports that solar inverters must be sourced from Class-I local suppliers with at least 50% local content. Because compliance can be product- and document-specific, bidders should obtain current manufacturer declarations, preserve calculation support and verify the official procurement clause against every offered model and source before finally locking equipment procurement, bid pricing or project delivery schedules.

BESS integration risks

A 25 MW/50 MWh nameplate describes power and energy, but the contract’s usable-energy definition is more important. Tests may be performed at specified state of charge, temperature, point of measurement and auxiliary-load treatment. A battery can meet cell-level capacity and still miss plant-level delivery after conversion and station losses.

Degradation starts from commissioning and depends on temperature, depth of discharge, charge rate, calendar time and operating strategy. The EPC must reconcile guaranteed capacity with cell warranty throughput and the O&M dispatch profile. Initial oversizing or planned augmentation may be needed. The contract should say who pays, when augmentation occurs and whether replaced equipment must meet updated standards.

Thermal management is both an efficiency and safety system. Container spacing, ventilation, detection, isolation, drainage and emergency access need coordinated design beyond the vendor’s standard container.

The controller must coordinate PV, BESS, forecasts, schedules and grid commands within battery limits. Latency, meter accuracy, cybersecurity and time synchronisation can affect tests. Factory acceptance should simulate failures before realistic site testing.

Grid, commissioning and maintenance

Commissioning should integrate subsystem checks, earthing tests, inverter and PCS energisation, communications, controlled discharge, capacity, efficiency and dispatch demonstrations.

Verified eligibility and caution

Secondary coverage reports that participation is restricted to Indian entities under domestic competitive bidding and highlights local-supplier rules for inverters. The complete financial and technical qualification thresholds are not reproduced here because the current official tender documents control and may be amended. Prospective bidders must review qualification clauses, forms and all portal announcements.

Why it matters to C&I buyers and EPC firms

For EPC firms, solar competence alone is insufficient. Storage projects require electrical integration, safety engineering, EMS capability, warranty alignment and specialised O&M. The solar battery storage industry guide provides market context, while our solar EPC contract guide outlines interface clauses.

Industrial buyers should also distinguish peak shifting from backup. A grid-following BESS designed for scheduled discharge may not support islanded factory loads during outages. The required switchgear, controls and protection must be designed deliberately. Our DG versus BESS comparison explains the operational difference.

Lessons for buyers

Specify service at the meter: MW, MWh, duration, response time, efficiency, availability and year-by-year retained capacity. Ambiguous nameplate requirements invite incomparable bids.

Model degradation and augmentation before award. Require bidders to state cycling, temperature and operating assumptions, then lock the accepted basis into warranties.

Integrate safety early. Layout, fire response, emergency access and authority approvals should influence site design before equipment ordering.

Finally, maintain a corrigendum register. The current 24 July deadline is reported from SECI’s official page, but only the latest authorised notice should guide submission.

FAQ

Is the Ramagiri tender live on 11 July 2026?

SECI’s page lists a 24 July 2026 deadline at 14:00. Bidders must check for later corrigenda on SECI and the authorised portals.

What is the battery duration?

The BESS is rated 25 MW/50 MWh, corresponding to two hours at rated power before accounting for the tender’s exact usable-energy and loss definitions.

Why is the solar array 91 MW DC for 70 MW AC?

The 1.3 DC/AC ratio can improve inverter utilisation and provide energy for storage charging, although detailed optimisation depends on clipping, dispatch and site conditions.

Is this a 25-year PPA bid?

No. It is a turnkey EPC and maintenance tender for Package 1 of SECI’s project, not selection of an independent developer tariff.

Can any EPC contractor participate?

Eligibility depends on the latest official qualification clauses. Secondary summaries are insufficient for a go/no-go decision.

Sources

• SECI official Ramagiri tender details
• SECI tender portal
• Central Public Procurement Portal
• SolarQuarter: Ramagiri solar and BESS BoS tender
• Saur Energy: 70 MW ISTS solar with 50 MWh BESS
• The Battery Magazine: SECI Ramagiri tender