Grid-scale battery procurement has matured fast. India’s agencies cleared gigawatt-hours of standalone storage this year, South Africa’s public programme has put 11 GWh through structured tenders, and states like Gujarat are now floating single tenders of 1 GW and 4 GWh. The procurement playbook that emerged from those programmes is replicable, and this guide sets it out step by step for a utility, off-taker or developer running its first serious battery tender in an emerging market.

Step 1: Define the job the battery is for, in writing, first

Every downstream decision follows from the use case. Evening peak shifting points to four-hour systems and energy-based contracts; frequency regulation points to shorter durations and availability-based payments; grid deferral points to location-specific sizing. Write a one-page statement of the services the system must deliver, the hours it must deliver them, and the penalty regime for missing them. India’s shift from short-duration ancillary tenders to four-hour, viability gap funded standalone tenders shows how sharply the specification changes once the use case does.

Step 2: Choose the contract structure before the technology

The bankable structures now in circulation fall into three families: energy-based tolling, where the off-taker pays for throughput; capacity or availability payments, where the system is paid for being ready, as in South Africa’s battery IPP programme; and hybrid PPAs where storage firms a renewable plant’s output. Availability structures have proven easiest to finance in emerging markets because they isolate the battery from market price risk the local market cannot yet hedge. Pick the structure, then let bidders bring the chemistry and configuration that best serves it.

Step 3: Get the risk allocation right in the tender documents

• Degradation and augmentation: specify end-of-period capacity guarantees and who funds augmentation, rather than prescribing a chemistry. Bidders price this well when the requirement is clear.
• Grid delay: if the connection or substation works slip, the battery sits idle. Assign that risk explicitly; lenders will find it if you do not.
• Currency: battery capex is dollar-denominated and revenue is usually local. Indexation or partial dollar linkage in the payment mechanism is what makes bids affordable.
• Safety and standards: reference international fire and grid codes explicitly, and require type certificates with the bid, not after award.

Step 4: Prequalify hard, evaluate simply

The successful programmes prequalify on delivered projects, balance sheet and manufacturing provenance, then run a simple price evaluation among those who clear the bar. Complex multi-criteria scoring invites disputes and gaming; hard prequalification plus clean price discovery is what has driven Indian clearing prices down while keeping delivery credible. Publish the evaluation methodology in full with the tender. Nothing improves bid quality like bidders trusting the process.

Step 5: Plan delivery around the supply chain you actually face

Cell supply has cycles; grid equipment queues are structural. Transformers and HV switchgear for the point of connection will often take longer than the battery itself, so the procurement calendar should start with the connection assets. Build realistic commissioning windows, staged capacity acceptance and liquidated damages that reflect genuine supply conditions rather than wishful schedules. And insist on local operations capability in the bid: a battery is an operating asset, and the difference between a good and bad first year is usually the operations team, not the cells.

Step 6: Run the numbers a lender would run

Before launch, stress the model the way a project finance committee will: availability at the guaranteed floor, degradation at the warranty edge, currency at a devaluation case, and the off-taker’s payment record as it is, not as the tender hopes it will be. If the structure only works in the base case, restructure before launch rather than renegotiating after award. Programmes that cleared credible tenders, such as South Africa’s, did the bankability work before bids went out.

Frequently asked questions

What size and duration are emerging market battery tenders converging on?

The centre of gravity has moved to two-to-four-hour systems at tens to hundreds of megawatts, with four hours becoming the default where the job is shifting solar into the evening peak. India’s current state tenders, including Gujarat’s 1 GW with 4 GWh, are the visible benchmark.

Should a first tender be standalone storage or solar plus storage?

Standalone is simpler contractually and lets the system serve the whole grid rather than one plant, which is why India’s viability gap funded standalone model has scaled fastest. Hybrids make sense where a single off-taker wants firmed renewable supply, as in much of South Africa’s private market.

How do we compare bids with different chemistries and warranties?

Do not compare chemistries; compare guaranteed outcomes. Define the capacity, efficiency and availability profile the project must deliver over its life, require bids to warrant that profile with augmentation included, and evaluate the price of the guaranteed service. The chemistry is the bidder’s problem once the guarantee is enforceable.

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Sources and further reading

• IEA, utility-scale batteries in South Africa case study
• Energy-Storage.news, South Africa’s 11 GWh BESS procurement visualised
• Mercom India, storage-backed tenders lead 1H 2026 procurement
• Analysis of India’s VGF-backed BESS procurement model, SJVN Haryana tender

Written by the EnergiTech Media newsroom, drawing on published tender frameworks and the sources above. This is general guidance, not procurement advice; structures and rules differ by market. Last reviewed and updated: August 2026.