Seven bidders for 10 GWh cell factory under PLI scheme

Bids received are seven times the manufacturing capacity of 10 Gwh to be awarded as companies have submitted bids for a cumulative capacity of 70 GWh

Story by: Javaid Naikoo

India has received seven bids under global tender for a 10 gigawatt hour (GWh) advanced chemistry cell (ACC) manufacturing unit worth ?3,620 crore ($441.5 million), to be set up under the government’s production linked incentives (PLI) scheme.

The ministry of heavy industries seven companies including Reliance industries, ACME Cleantech Solutions Private Limited, Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Private Limited, Anvi Power Industries Private Limited, JSW Neo Energy Limited, Lucas TVS Limited, and Waaree Energies Limited have placed their bids in a second round.

The initiative is aimed to boost the manufacturing of battery supply systems of electric vehicles in the country.

The scheme has received overwhelming response from the industry as bids received are seven times the manufacturing capacity of 10 Gwh to be awarded as companies have submitted bids for a cumulative capacity of 70 GWh.

The pre-bid meeting was held on 12 February 2024. The last date for receiving applications on the government portal was 22 April and the technical bids opened on 23 April.

India in May 2021 approved the technology agnostic PLI Scheme under ‘National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh of ACC with an outlay of ?18,100 crore ($2.20 billion).

The first round of the ACC PLI bidding was concluded in March 2022, in which Ola, ACC energy storage (bid as Rajesh Exports), and Reliance new energy were allocated a total capacity of 30 GWh, and the program agreement with selected beneficiary firms was signed in July 2022.

India?currently imports most of its?Lithium battery?cells from China, Japan, and Vietnam and is the largest importer of Lithium battery in the World, a study shows.

The top?three importers of?Lithium battery?in the world currently are India with ?233,607?shipments, followed by?the United states?with?225,275?and?Vietnam? with?125,783?shipments.

The PLI scheme of India is seen as an initiative to cut import dependence and achieve its ambitious goal of net zero carbon emission by 2070.

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