IESW 2024 will attract investment of over ₹2,000 cr: IESA

The 10th edition of India Energy Storage Week (IESW), which starts from July 1, will attract investment opportunities worth ₹2,000 crore in the energy storage, electric vehicle and green hydrogen sector, India Energy Storage Association (IESA) said in a press briefing on Wednesday. 

The five day event backed by the Ministry of Heavy Industries and organised by IESA, will witness participation of more than 1,000 companies including 200 international companies. 

The event will also witness the launch of five major gigafactory for battery and storage solutions. 

Notably, through IESW, Singapore-headquartered VFlowTech plans to enter the Indian market and will launch its largest non-lithium long-duration energy storage manufacturing facility in Palwal, Haryana. According to Vivek Seth, Managing Director of VFlowTech India Pvt Ltd, the facility has a capacity of 100 megawatt-hour and will focus on the production of advanced VRFB systems (vanadium radium flow battery). The company plans to scale its production from kilowatt-hour to megawatt-hour within the next two years. 

Nash Energy, which manufactures lithium-ion batteries, plans to unveil its domestically produced Li-Ion battery cell. The company already has a manufacturing plant in Karnataka, which boasts an annual capacity of 600 MWh. Anil Kumar, COO of Nash Energy, said that the company plans to scale operations up to 1.5 GWh, focusing on LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cylindrical 32140 format cells. The production of these cells is set to commence next month.

BatX Energies, which recycles lithium ion batteries, will be launching its recycling and materials extraction facility, HUB-1, at IESW 2024. With an annual extraction capacity of 2.5 thousand metric tons across all battery chemistries, the facility will integrate an advanced material science research lab, a commercial-scale battery refurbishing setup (10 MW), and a proprietary material extraction plant, funded by India's Ministry of Heavy Industries.

The battery recycling company Lohum will also be foraying into next-generation 'Manganese-rich' Lithium-ion battery technology manufacturing, with a grant from the Ministry of Mines. 

Kushmanda Power's Bharat Cell will also be disclosing its plans to enter the BSES (battery storage and energy solutions) sector with a new 2 GWh BSES system manufacturing facility. 

Notably, the event comes ahead of the union budget for FY25. Reiterating its expectation from the union budget, the energy storage association is expecting a GST rationalisation on energy storage solutions. According to IESA, Li-ion batteries currently attract 18% GST in comparison to 28% GST for energy storage solutions. “The immediate expectation from the union budget 2024, is that the government should think about technology neutral energy storage. Everything should be identified,” said IESA. 

“When the EV is giving a reference to GST at 5%, EV charging services and battery swapping services are attracting a GST of 28%. The ecosystem will grow if you give similar support to EV charging services to battery swapping,” it added. 

Similar to Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) for advanced cell chemistry manufacturing, IESA is also expecting PLI for the battery component manufacturing including cathode, anode, electrolyte and adhesive and some of the non-attractive materials such as aluminium. 

The energy storage association also expects a framework for testing procedures including battery deployment and manufacturing. “We are at an initial stage of battery deployment and we have now entered into manufacturing , deployment and also handling and operation maintenance. Government should create an appropriate framework for the safety standards. Otherwise, it will  not only delay the market (BSES) market but also derail the market,” said IESA.