Energy Storage Plant Bidding: Trends, Tactics, and What You Need to Know in 2025

Why Energy Storage Bidding Is Heating Up (Literally and Figuratively)

Let’s cut to the chase: if you’re not paying attention to energy storage plant bidding right now, you’re missing out on the Wild West of renewable energy. With Chinese giants like China Huaneng and CNPC dropping 50GWh+ tender bombs for 2025 projects [1][3], this market’s growing faster than a Tesla battery fire (too soon?). But here’s the kicker—winning these bids isn’t just about slapping the lowest price tag anymore. Let’s unpack what’s really going on.

The Price Rollercoaster: How Low Can We Go?

Buckle up for these numbers:

• BYD’s jaw-dropping 0.439元/Wh bid for a Xinjiang project in November 2024 [1]
• That record smashed 20 days later by a 0.427元/Wh offer [1]
• Average bid prices down 15% year-over-year [3]

But here’s the plot twist—major players are now reducing price weighting in evaluations. China Huadian recently slashed price factors from 45% to 35% in their scoring matrix [6]. Suddenly, that race to the bottom looks… complicated.

3 New Rules of the Bidding Game

1. Safety: The New Golden Ticket

Forget “location, location, location”—it’s now “certification, certification, certification.” Recent tenders demand:

• Third-party production monitoring (no more shady warehouse batteries) [3]
• Fire safety systems that would make a NASA engineer blush [3]
• Zero fire incidents in past projects (good luck explaining that 2022 thermal event) [3]

2. The 90-Day Countdown

CNPC’s latest tender requires delivery within 90 days after contract signing [1]. That’s tighter than Elon Musk’s production deadlines. Pro tip: Have your supply chain locked down tighter than a Bitcoin wallet.

3. The Experience Arms Race

Bid requirements now read like a storage industry Hall of Fame:

• Minimum 1.5GWh historical project experience [2]
• At least one 100MWh+ standalone project [2]
• PCS certifications that require more paperwork than a UN treaty [2]

Real-World Battle: How the Big Players Are Winning

Let’s dissect China Huadian’s 4GWh mega-tender that had 52 companies scrambling [2]:

• 标段1 (3GWh): Centralized systems with pricing between 0.452–0.582元/Wh
• 标段2 (1GWh): Modular systems at 0.471–0.648元/Wh

The takeaway? Centralized projects are becoming price battlegrounds, while modular systems offer premium pricing—for now.

The Elephant in the Room: India’s 411GWh Ambition [9]

While China dominates headlines, India’s SECI just awarded:

• A 930MW solar + 465MW/1860MWh BESS project to Reliance Power [9]
• 150MW solar + 300MWh BESS to Singapore’s Sembcorp [9]

With battery costs halving since 2020 [6], this market’s heating up faster than a samosa fryer.

Pro Tip: How to Avoid Being Roadkill

Mix these into your next bid strategy:

• The “Battery Freshness” Play: Many tenders now reject cells older than 90 days [3]—time your production like a Michelin chef
• Modularity Magic: Group string systems are grabbing 20% price premiums over centralized models [2]
• Fire Insurance Theater: Over-engineer safety specs—it’s cheaper than explaining a thermal runaway incident to shareholders

Final Thought: Is This Sustainable?

With prices now below $60/kWh and safety costs rising, we’re entering make-or-break territory. As one Shanghai bidder told me last week: “It’s like selling iPhones at Nokia prices—but the App Store might catch fire.” Stay tuned.

[1] 盘点2024 | 央企引领储能大规模招标新趋势 [2] 华能2025年储能系统招标:投资时机大揭秘! [3] 储能系统招标，门槛越来越高了 [6] 独家:有央企已修改储能招标规则 [9] 超60GW!飙升12倍，储能机会来了?