Reliance, JSW Neo, Amara Raja And Four More Bid For Manufacturing Of Advanced Chemistry Cells

A total of seven companies have submitted bids for availing benefits under the production linked incentives (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of advanced chemistry cells (ACC) batteries, the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) said on 23 April.

Among the bidders are prominent industry players including Reliance Industries, JSW Neo Energy, Amara Raja, Anvi Power Industries, ACME Cleantech, Lucas TVS Limited, and Waaree Energies Limited.

These seven firms have collectively applied for a cumulative capacity of 70 Giga Watt hours (GWh) of ACC batteries, surpassing the proposal invited for 10 GWh.

In May 2021, the Union cabinet had approved the technology agnostic PLI Scheme on 'National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh of ACC with an outlay of Rs 18,100 crore.

The first round of the ACC PLI bidding concluded in March 2022, with three beneficiary firms allocated a total capacity of 30 GWh. Programme agreements with selected beneficiary firms were signed in July 2022.

Ola Cell Technologies secured the majority share with a 20 GWh capacity, while ACC Energy Storage (bid as Rajesh Exports) and Reliance New Energy Battery Storage were granted PLI incentives for 5 GWh each.

Furthering this initiative, the Ministry of Heavy Industries released a Request for Proposal (RfP) on 24 January for shortlisting and selecting bidders to set up ACC units with a total capacity of 10 GWh, with a maximum budgetary outlay of Rs 3,620 crore.

ACCs are the new generation advance energy storage technologies that can store electric energy either as chemical energy or electrochemical and convert it back to electric energy as and when required.

Currently, India has a negligible presence in the global supply chain for manufacturing of advanced cell technologies. Domestic manufacturing of advanced batteries could cater to demand from EVs, grid storage applications, consumer electronics, and more.

Given its significance and the transition to a clean energy economy, the government launched the PLI-ACC scheme to incentivise potential investors, domestic and overseas, to set up Giga-scale ACC manufacturing facilities.

Under the scheme, beneficiary firms must commission their manufacturing facilities within two years, with subsidies disbursed over a subsequent five-year period.