Reliance, Ola, Hyundai, and Rajesh Exports win support for battery manufacturing

Reliance New Energy Solar, Ola Electric Mobility, Hyundai Global Motors Company, and Rajesh Exports have won the support for manufacturing Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage in the country.
ET had reported these names on March 17.

Hyundai and Ola Electric have been awarded support for setting up 20 Gigawatt Hour (GWh) of manufacturing capacity each. Reliance and Rajesh Exports will be getting PLI for setting up 5 GWh of manufacturing capacity. Reliance New Energy Solar's bid for setting up another 15 GWh of capacity has been waitlisted.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Heavy Industries, bids of Mahindra & Mahindra, Exide Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Amara Raja Batteries, and India Power Corporation were also waitlisted. The bid of Lucas-TVS has been rejected.

“In all, the Ministry had received bids from 10 companies with a proposed capacity of 130 Gigawatt Hour (GWh) under the scheme,” a Heavy Industries Ministry official told ET.

In May 2021, the Union Cabinet had approved a National Programme on ACC Battery Storage for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50 Giga Watt Hour (GWh) of ACC and 5 GWh of Niche ACC, with an outlay of Rs 18,100 crore. The Ministry of Heavy Industries is overseeing its implementation. It is estimated that a direct investment of around Rs 45,000 crore in ACC Battery storage manufacturing projects will materialise as a result of this Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for ACC Battery storage.

The policy has been tailored to favour companies interested in electric mobility and renewable energy.

According to official estimates, all the present demand of the ACCs is currently being met through imports. The PLI programme is focused on reducing the import dependence as the country pushes towards more renewable energy and electric vehicle deployment.

“PLI scheme is expected to accelerate EV adoption and hence translate into net savings of ? 2,00,000 crore to ? 2,50,000 crore on account of oil import bill during the period of this Programme and increase the share of renewable energy at the national grid level,” an official statement said.

The manufacturing facility would have to be commissioned within two years. The incentive will then be disbursed over a period of five years.

Each selected ACC battery Storage manufacturer would have to commit to set-up a manufacturing facility of minimum 5 GWh capacity and ensure a minimum 60 per cent domestic value addition at the Project level within five years. The beneficiary firms will also have to achieve a domestic value addition of at least 25 per cent and incur the mandatory investment Rs 225 crore per GWh within 2 Years and raise it to 60 per cent domestic value addition within 5 Years.