Coal India has issued a tender for an 80 MW/320 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project in Odisha through a complete Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract. The tender has been issued on behalf of its subsidiary, Mahanadi Coalfields, with bids invited until October 9, 2026.

The project will be developed at Bhatli, Basta, Padampur and New Bolangir. It includes 15 years of comprehensive Operation and Maintenance (O&M), while the selected EPC contractor will be responsible for developing the storage system and associated power evacuation infrastructure.

The contractor will make the storage facility available to GRIDCO on an on-demand basis. Its responsibilities will cover design, manufacturing, quality assurance, delivery, installation, commissioning, performance testing, acceptance testing, personnel training and handover, along with the supply of auxiliaries, accessories and spare parts.

The tender follows an earlier initiative by SECI on behalf of GRIDCO for a 500 MWh grid-connected BESS project, configured as 125 MW for 4 hours. GRIDCO subsequently issued a Letter of Award to Coal India on April 30, 2026, for a 40 MW/160 MWh project at two Odisha locations.

That earlier project comprised a 20 MW/80 MWh system connected to the 132/33 kV GSS at Padampur and another 20 MW/80 MWh system at the 220/132/33 kV GSS at New Bolangir, operated by OPTCL. Under the latest tender, developers will be selected to build the systems and provide the resulting battery storage capacity to GRIDCO.

The EPC contractor must specify and guarantee the maximum recovery time between duty cycles. Cooling or recovery between charging and discharging, or between discharging and charging, cannot exceed 1 hour or the contractor’s guaranteed value, whichever is lower. Planned maintenance will require prior written approval, with schedules submitted at least one month in advance and planned outages capped at 34 hours in any 2-month period unless otherwise approved.