Govt approves Rs 18,100 crore incentive scheme for promoting battery storage

The Union cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for promoting battery storage at an estimated cost of Rs 18,100 crore.
The scheme, National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, is expected to attract investment of Rs 45,000 crore, information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said in a briefing after the cabinet meeting.

The initiative will help reduce import dependence, support Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, and help achieve manufacturing capacity of 50 giga watt hour (GWh) of ACC and 5 GWh of ‘Niche’ ACC, the government said in a statement. ACCs are the new generation of advanced storage technologies.

The government expects net savings of Rs 2-2.5 lakh crore on account of oil import bill reduction during the period of this programme as domestic ACCs are expected to accelerate electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the country.

As per the government statement, ACC battery storage manufacturers will be selected through a transparent competitive bidding process.

Each selected ACC battery Storage manufacturer would have to commit to set up an ACC manufacturing facility of minimum 5 GWh capacity and ensure a minimum 60% domestic value addition at the project level within five years, the statement read.

“The manufacturing facility would have to be commissioned within a period of two years. The incentive will be disbursed thereafter over a period of five years,” it said.

“Beneficiary firms have to achieve a domestic value addition of at least 25% and incur mandatory investment of Rs 225 crore per GWh within two years (at the mother unit level) and raise it to 60% domestic value addition within five years, either at mother unit in case of an integrated unit, or at the project level in case of ‘hub & spoke’ structure,” it said.

The government said the incentive amount will go up with increased specific energy density and cycles, and increased local value addition.

Industry said the move would strengthen the Make in India initiative.

OTHER DECISIONS
The cabinet also approved signing of a memorandum of understanding between Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Qatar Financial Centre Authority to enhance cooperation between the institutes to work together to strengthen the accounting profession and entrepreneurship base in Qatar.