The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has approved tariffs ranging from ₹216,000 (~$2,514.36) to ₹219,000 (~$2,469.37)/MW/month for NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam’s (NVVN) 500 MW/1,000 MWh standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Rajasthan.

The Commission also approved the trading margin of ₹0.07 (~$0.00079)/kWh.

Background

The procurement traces back to the Ministry of Power’s (MoP) BESS guidelines issued on March 11, 2022, followed by the viability gap funding (VGF) program notified in March 2024, which approved support for 4,000 MWh of BESS.

In October 2024, MoP extended VGF support to 5,000 MWh and allocated 2,000 MWh for NTPC, NHPC, and SJVN. NTPC subsequently requested permission to implement its share through NVVN, and MoP nominated NVVN as the BESS implementing agency on January 21, 2025.

The petitioner, NVVN, identified Rajasthan Urja Vikas and IT Services (RUVITL) to procure 500 MW/1,000 MWh BESS on its behalf and issued the Request for Selection on February 28, 2025.

Letters of Award were issued to five companies.

RUVITL initially raised concerns about the trading margin, citing an earlier RERC order in which a lower margin had been considered. It, however, executed the BESS sale agreement on August 26, 2025, without reiterating the objection.

Commission’s Analysis

The Commission noted that the tariff is discovered through a transparent process aligned with Central Government guidelines.

RERC also cited system-level benefits, including peak-cost reduction and enhanced renewable integration, and referred to the Energy Storage Obligation (ESO) trajectory under the RERC RPO Regulations, 2023, which mandates an increase in ESO from 1.5% in financial year 2024–25 to 4% by 2029–30.

On the trading margin issue, the Commission observed that, since RUVITL did not press the objection at the final hearing and had already signed the BESS sale agreement, both parties were aligned on the contractual terms.

RERC directed NVVN to ensure compliance with evolving BESS guidelines and instructed RUVITL to evaluate advanced and AI-enabled BESS technologies. RUVITL was also directed to submit quarterly progress reports until the work was completed.

The Commission approved tariffs ranging from ₹216,000 (~$2,514.36) to ₹219,000 (~$2,469.37)/MW/month, with a trading margin of ₹0.07 (~$0.00079)/kWh.

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