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Heavy Industries Ministry to Launch 20 GW Battery Energy Storage Tender

2023-07-21

The Ministry of Heavy Industries has scheduled the launch of a fresh tender by 10 August aimed at establishing 20 gigawatts of battery energy storage capacity as part of the nation's electric mobility mission acceleration plan.

Previously, the government had attempted to allocate 50 GW capacities under the PLI scheme for ACC battery storage, but 20 GW remained unallotted. Kamran Rizvi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, revealed that bids are now being invited for the unallocated 20 GW. A stakeholder consultation with prospective bidders will be held on 24 July, and the official tender is expected to be available to the public by 10 August.

During a seminar on "Enabling Policies to Accelerate E-Mobility" at the 14th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and Mission Innovation (MI) 8 meetings in Goa, Rizvi responded to a question by Amitabh Kant, the G20 Sherpa and former Niti Aayog CEO, regarding India's readiness in terms of battery capacity. He mentioned that out of the initial 30 GW capacity allotted by the government, 20 GW was awarded to Ola Electric, whose manufacturing plants are set to begin production by the end of the current year. Rizvi explained that the production would be gradual, starting with 5 GW and increasing to 20 GW over the following year. Additionally, Reliance Industries (RIL) is another partner working on Sodium Ion cell technology, and their plant is also in progress.

This initiative will make a total of 50 GW of government-funded battery capacity accessible to the public. Moreover, private companies have independently declared plans to add around 50 GW, resulting in approximately 100 GW of manufacturing capacity within the next 2-3 years.

Rizvi also shared that the government is working on another proposal to manufacture 5 GW of niche technologies for battery manufacturing. The ministry is actively seeking ten different technology partners involved in these upcoming and specialised technologies, with further details set to be made public by September.