SECI Auction Results: Adani, NLC, ReNew Among Winners as 8.6 GW of Hybrid and Storage Capacity Is Allocated

As India races to close the gap between renewable capacity targets and grid reliability, battery storage is no longer an add-on in procurement it is the baseline.

Eight point six gigawatts of inter-state transmission system-connected renewable capacity has been allocated across five separate Solar Energy Corporation of India schemes, with solar-plus-battery storage projects clearing at tariffs between ₹2.86 and ₹3.13 per kilowatt-hour a range that sits materially below the national average power procurement cost of approximately ₹5.38/kWh recorded in 2024–25.

The auction results, published by SolarQuarter on 26 June 2026, cover a span of scheme types: pure solar, solar integrated with battery storage, wind-solar hybrid with BESS, and firm dispatchable renewable energy. The breadth of the allocation reflects how procurement architecture has shifted since the Ministry of Power mandated that all future solar tenders include a minimum co-located storage component equivalent to 10% of installed capacity for a minimum of two hours.

What Was Allocated and at What Price

The two largest tranches were solar-plus-BESS schemes. ISTS Tranche XX allocated 2,000 MW, with the majority of developers including MB Power, Shivalaya Construction, Purvah Green Power, and Welspun Renewable Energy securing capacity at ₹2.86/kWh. ISTS Tranche XXI awarded 1,200 MW, with NLC India Renewables and Engie Energy India winning at ₹3.12/kWh and RPIL Power Three and Oriana Power at ₹3.13/kWh.

The Manufacturing Linked Solar Power Scheme, which ties allocation to domestic production commitments, returned the lowest tariff in the round: Adani Green Energy Four secured 1,799 MW at ₹2.42/kWh, reflecting the cost advantage that vertically integrated manufacturers can deliver when module supply is captive.

Wind-solar hybrid with BESS under Hybrid Tranche VI cleared at ₹4.64–4.72/kWh, awarded to AMP Energy, ReNew Vikram Shakti, and Hero Solar Energy. The Firm Dispatchable Renewable Energy Tranche VI, which requires guaranteed evening peak hour supply, saw a single winner Altra Xergi Power secure 200 MW at ₹8.10/kWh. The premium on FDRE over pure solar reflects the cost of committed dispatchability, not renewables in general.

The Storage Tariff Signal

The ₹2.86/kWh clearing price on ISTS Tranche XX deserves attention. The earlier ISTS Tranche XV solar-plus-BESS scheme cleared at ₹3.42/kWh. The compression in discovered tariffs over successive tranches indicates that battery costs, which fell from over ₹1.08 million per MW per month in 2022 to around ₹2.21 lakh per MW per month in recent tenders according to Mercom India, have passed through to project economics at scale.

This matters for the broader debate about whether storage-integrated renewable energy can genuinely displace thermal procurement on cost grounds. At ₹2.86/kWh for solar-plus-BESS delivering half of contracted capacity during peak hours, the economics shift. The remaining question is whether developers who quoted at these tariffs have secured supply chains — particularly for lithium-ion battery cells at prices consistent with those bids, or whether margin compression will surface at the delivery stage.

Implications for the Developer Market

The winner list reflects a sector in transition. Alongside established players like NLC India and ReNew, several mid-tier developers Purvah Green Power, Stockwell Solar Services, Oswal Cables, LC Infra Projects have won capacity at competitive tariffs in schemes requiring grid delivery within 24 months of PPA signing. These are not names associated with balance-sheet depth. For lenders and project financiers, the creditworthiness of winning developers in the ISTS Tranche XX pool warrants scrutiny before debt is committed.

The ALMM List-II requirement applies across all schemes: solar cells and modules must be sourced from MNRE's approved list. With domestic TOPCon cell capacity still scaling and MNRE having recently allowed only provisional commissioning for projects caught in the transition, supply chain execution risk is real for developers dependent on imported cell technologies.

What to Watch

• Whether developers in the ₹2.86/kWh tranches can secure domestic ALMM-compliant cell supply at prices that preserve project viability — or whether cost overruns materialise at commissioning.
• The FDRE tariff trajectory: at ₹8.10/kWh for assured peak power, dispatchable renewables remain significantly above thermal alternatives, and subsequent tranches will test how far that premium can compress.
• SECI's tender pipeline for the second half of 2026, particularly whether pumped storage schemes and longer-duration BESS configurations begin to compete with lithium-ion dominated solar-plus-BESS tranches on cost.