Govt clears Rs 18,100-cr PLI scheme for battery manufacturing

The government on Wednesday cleared a Rs 18,100-crore scheme aimed to promote local manufacturing by battery makers. The scheme is directed toward cutting import dependence and promoting electric vehicle (EV) adoption. The government expects direct investment of Rs 45,000 crore through the proposal floated by the Department of Heavy Industries.

In November 2020. The Cabinet cleared Rs 18,000 crore for domestic manufacturing of Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme Currently, the government is meeting demand for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) through imports.

To meet the deficit of ACC, the nodal ministry proposed a national programme on ACC battery storage to achieve manufacturing capacity of 50 GigaWatt-Hour (GWh) of ACC and 5 GWh of "Niche" ACC.

The Cabinet approved the proposal on Wednesday. Under the scheme, every manufacturer needs to set up an ACC production facility of a minimum 5 GWh capacity. A minimum 60 per cent domestic value addition at the project level within five years is also needed, said a policy note by the Cabinet.

The Cabinet said it will lead to "net savings of Rs 2-2.5 lakh crore on account of oil import bill reduction during the period of this programme as ACCs manufactured under the programme are expected to accelerate EV adoption.

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Demand for ACC is expected to come from consumer electronics, advanced electricity grids, and solar rooftop sectors.

ACCs are the new generation of advanced storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy as and when required.

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