The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has announced that it would re-issue the tender for manufacturing the unallocated 20 GWh Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) for energy storage under the Performance Linked Incentives (PLI) program.

The initial bidding for the ACC Energy Storage PLI Program concluded in March 2022, with Ola Electric Mobility, Hyundai Global Motors, Reliance New Energy, and Rajesh Exports securing bids to set up 50 GWh capacity. However, Hyundai Global Motors opted to withdraw from bidding, leaving behind an unallocated capacity of 20 GWh.

The other winners signed the project agreement in August last year.

Before allotting the remaining capacity, MHI has announced a stakeholders’ consultation on July 24, 2023, at Jacaranda Hall, New Delhi.

The forthcoming consultation, chaired by the Ministry of Heavy Industries Secretary, will seek valuable insights and feedback from key stakeholders and prospective bidders to ensure an all-inclusive and comprehensive re-bidding process.

The stakeholders are invited to provide written comments and feedback by July 20, 2023. Organizations must RSVP by July 21 to confirm their attendance at the stakeholders’ consultation.

Some of the key themes that will be discussed during the consultation include:

• Optimal Capacity and Battery Technology: Stakeholders can provide insights on the optimal capacity for an ACC manufacturing facility to achieve financial viability and discuss the battery technology that will hold prominence in the ACC industry.
• Eligibility and Product Eligibility: Participants can offer specific inputs on the eligibility requirements and the ACC matrix criteria for subsidy disbursement to enhance the quality of participation. They can also share their intentions to set up ACC manufacturing plants for the mobility or storage sectors.
• Investment and Gestation Period: Stakeholders can provide their opinions on including brownfield manufacturing in ACC PLI and discuss the estimated capital costs for different GWh capacity ACC facilities in India and the impact of scale on the per kWh cost.
• Domestic Value Addition and Testing: Concerns and suggestions related to the methodology for calculating domestic value addition and testing standards in previous ACC PLI bidding will be discussed.
• Component Ecosystem: Stakeholders can share the percentage of capital and operational components sourced from India and discuss major producers/suppliers of battery components and input materials in India. Additionally, any discussions with global component players interested in setting up their facilities in India will be explored.

The government expects the active participation of all relevant stakeholders to ensure the accelerated implementation of the unallocated capacity.

According to NITI Aayog, the PLI program would boost the sector as India’s annual battery market could surpass $15 billion by 2030.