Govt to soon invite bids for 10 GW of battery energy storage projects

The government will soon invite bids for 10 gigawatt of battery energy storage projects, an official said on Friday.

The move will strengthen India's position in the energy storage segment, which is in a developing stage.

Vijay Mittal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, said, "The ministry will soon come out with a 10 gigawatt RFP (request for proposal) for those who are working on the energy storage part of it for grid-scale energy storage systems...so that we have...indigenous capability for manufacturing of battery energy storage system compatible with advanced chemistry cells."

The official was addressing the 'Summit on Lithium-Ion Batteries', organised by industry body India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), virtually.

The ministry is leading the mission of indigenous manufacturing of chemistry cells in the country as part of electric vehicle (EV) initiative. The goal is to achieve net zero by 2070 and reduce the need for imports of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, addressing environmental concerns, he said.

Mittal further said that the government has allocated over 40 gigawatt-hours out of 50 gigawatts to various original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for indigenous manufacturing of advanced chemistry cell under ACC-PLI scheme.

Over 300 industry leaders gathered at the event to discuss topics like R&D, innovation, manufacturing, supply chain, raw materials, stationary energy storage, electric mobility, recycling, among others.