Reliance, Ola, L&T, Amara Raja bid for govt’s Rs 18,000-cr battery storage PLI scheme

• The list of bidders includes Reliance New Energy Solar, Hyundai, Ola, L&T, Amara Raja, Exide, among others
• The government had invited bids for setting up manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh of ACC battery storage

New Delhi: A total of 10 bids with capacity ~130 GWh have been received from companies like Reliance New Energy Solar, Hyundai, Ola, L&T, Amara Raja, Exide, among others, under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, said the government on Saturday. The government had invited bids for setting up manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh of ACC battery storage, but the figures that have emerged show that bids have been received for over twice the capacity that the Centre was planning to incentivise.

"A total of 10 companies submitted their bids under the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage Programme in India for which Request for Proposal (RFP) was released by Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) on 22nd October 2021. The scheme was open for receiving applications till 11:00:00 hours IST on 14th January 2022 and the Technical Bids were opened on 15th January 2022," said the Ministry of Heavy Industries in an official statement.

ACC battery storage PLI scheme: List of bidders

The list of companies that have thrown their hats in the ring includes, Reliance New Energy Solar Limited, Hyundai Global Motors Company Limited, Ola Electric Mobility Private Limited, Lucas-TVS Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Amara Raja Batteries Limited, Exide Industries Limited, Rajesh Exports Limited, Larsen & Toubro Limited and India Power Corporation Limited (IPCL). 

The manufacturing facility would have to be set up within a period of two years. The incentive will be disbursed thereafter over a period of five years on sale of batteries manufactured in India.

ACC battery storage PLI scheme 

The government approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme 'National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage' for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh of ACC for enhancing India's Manufacturing Capabilities with a budgetary outlay of Rs 18,100 crore. Under the initiative, the emphasis of the government is to achieve greater domestic value addition, while at the same time ensure that the levelised cost of battery manufacturing in India is globally competitive.

The programme is designed in such a manner that it is technology agnostic. The beneficiary firm shall be free to choose suitable advanced technology and the corresponding plant and machinery, raw material and other intermediate goods for setting up cell manufacturing facility to cater to any application.

The scheme envisages an investment which will boost domestic manufacturing and also facilitate battery storage demand creation for both electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary storage along with development of a completely domestic supply chain and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. 

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