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85 Percent of VGF-funded BESS Power Reserved for Discoms: Power Minister

This initiative aims to bolster India's renewable energy capacity and involves the allocation of up to 40 percent of the capital cost for BESS through VGF.

December 27, 2023. By Abha Rustagi

The Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh, informed about the government's approval for a scheme providing Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to facilitate the development of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) with a substantial capacity of 4,000 MWh.

This initiative aims to bolster India's renewable energy capacity and involves the allocation of up to 40 percent of the capital cost for BESS through VGF, with participation from both public and private sector entities.

The selection of these entities will be determined through a competitive bidding process conducted by Implementing Agency(ies) following the Scheme and Bidding Guidelines for BESS development. The approved projects are slated for the period of 2023-24 to 2025-26.

A noteworthy commitment within the scheme dictates that at least 85 percent of power generated from VGF-funded BESS projects will be first offered to Distribution Companies (Discoms) before becoming available to other entities.

Despite the scheme's approval, the selection of developers under the VGF scheme has not yet commenced.

Tags:

Renewable energy capacity

Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy

RK Singh

VGF scheme

Battery Energy Storage System

Viability Gap Funding