Kerala’s power regulator has cleared the way for more clean-energy participation in a major electricity tender. The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) has approved a request from the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to rework the way bids are evaluated in its ongoing tender to procure 300 MW of peak power over five years.
What the tender is for
KSEB is looking to buy 300 MW of electricity specifically for the evening peak — the high-demand window from 6 pm to midnight — for a five-year term running from January 2027 to December 2031. Peak power is among the most valuable and hardest to supply, since demand surges after sunset just as solar generation tails off, making flexible sources such as battery storage especially useful.
Why the rules were changed
Renewable energy and battery energy storage system (BESS) developers had flagged that the original bid-evaluation methodology did not properly account for the interstate transmission system (ISTS) charge waivers available to clean-energy projects. In simple terms, solar, wind and storage projects often enjoy reduced transmission costs — an advantage the earlier evaluation didn’t fully credit, putting green bidders at a disadvantage. The revised framework recognises those savings, which is expected to encourage stronger participation from renewable and storage developers.
Counting towards clean-energy targets
Alongside approving the change, KSERC directed KSEB to ensure that any electricity bought from renewable and BESS projects under this tender counts towards the utility’s Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and Renewable Consumption Obligation (RCO). These are mandatory targets that require power utilities to source a set share of their electricity from renewables, so the direction ties the peak-power purchase directly into Kerala’s broader clean-energy commitments.
Why it matters
Decisions like this shape how quickly states shift their evening power supply from fossil fuels to solar-plus-storage. For homeowners and businesses, the same logic that makes batteries attractive at the grid level — storing cheap daytime solar for use after dark — increasingly applies to rooftop systems, where pairing panels with storage can cut reliance on the grid during peak hours.
Source: Mercom India