The Indian Ministry of Heavy Industries has floated a global tender to develop a cumulative 50 GWh of advance-chemistry battery cell manufacturing units. This tender has been issued under the government’s production-linked incentive scheme. The winning bidders will be shortlisted on the basis of the technical evaluation and will be supported with fiscal benefits in the form of cash subsidies for production. The subsidy is limited at Rs 2,000 per kWh and a financial evaluation will be done based on the sought subsidy amount. Bids with subsidy amounts greater than Rs 2,000 will be turned down. The bid submission deadline is December 31, 2021.
As per the tender guidelines, to be eligible for the government subsidy, bidders must agree to building an advanced-chemistry cell production plant with a capacity of between 5 GWh and 20 GWh within five years of selection. They must also commit to adding at least 25 per cent value to the initiatives within two years of the scheduled start date, and at least 60 per cent within five years.
In June 2021, the Department of Heavy Industry released a detailed notification on the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, for the implementation of giga-scale ACC manufacturing facilities in India. With an outlay of Rs 181 billion, this programme aims to achieve an ACC manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh. While the scheme is technology agnostic, incentives will not be offered to the conventional battery pack segment. In addition to 50 GWh of ACC storage, 5 GWh of capacity for “niche” ACC technologies, which have better performance with a minimum threshold capacity of 500 MWh, is also planned.
