Reliance, Waaree Among 22 Shortlisted For Battery Storage Tender | Today’s news
Reliance Industries Ltd, Waaree Energy Storage Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd, JSW Neo Energy Ltd, Exide Energy Solutions Ltd, ACME Solar Holdings Ltd and Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Pvt. Ltd is among 22 bidders shortlisted for the Centre’s 10GWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) tender under ₹18,100 crore Manufacturing Incentive Program for Advanced Chemical Cells (PLI-ACC).
The PLI-ACC scheme aims to create 50 GWh of domestic cell manufacturing capacity. The latest tender for 10 GWh follows the award of incentives for the remaining 40 GWh to Ola Electric (20 GWh), Reliance Industries and its subsidiary Reliance New Energy Ltd (15 GWh) and Rajesh Exports Ltd (5 GWh), which faced controversy.
In June, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) alleged that Rajesh Exports and its promoters were responsible for financial misstatements of Rs. ₹
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This 10 GWh capacity, for which the government has shortlisted 22 bidders, has been earmarked for grid-scale storage in view of the country’s growing energy demands and the introduction of renewable energy, while earlier allocation of incentives was dependent on end-use, the heavy industry ministry said on Thursday.
₹3,620 crore government incentives will be available to selected bidders once they make the required investment in cell manufacturing and start selling the domestically produced cells for advanced chemicals, as per the scheme guidelines and tender documents.
The remaining shortlisted companies are: Avaada Electro Ltd, Fujiyama Power Systems Ltd, GK Energy Ltd, Godawari New Energy Pvt. Ltd, JPM Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Lineage Power Pvt. Ltd, Mahendra Sponge and Power Ltd, Nsure Reliable Power Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Renew Photovoltaics Pvt. Ltd, Sai Bioenergy Pvt. Ltd, Shirdi Sai Electricals Ltd, Sun Drops Energia Ltd, Utex New Energy Pvt. Ltd, Vikram Solar Ltd, Zetsol Energy Pvt. Ltd.
Emailed queries to Reliance, Waree, Amara Raja and Exide did not receive an immediate response late on Thursday.
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The PLI ACC program, which was launched in 2021, has not taken off and payments under the battery incentive program remain at zero.
The government has previously cited a lack of available technology and skilled manpower, delays in importing critical machinery and unavailability of upstream components as key reasons why developers have been unable to meet their targets.
Ola Electric has developed 1 GWh cell manufacturing capacity while other beneficiaries have not developed any.
Mint reported in August that the government had given extensions to Ola Electric and Reliance New Energy to complete their respective projects till 2031, while the third beneficiary, Rajesh Exports, with respect to the Sebi investigation has not received any.
The extension only applied to companies that won contracts in the first round in 2022. Reliance secured another 10 GWh in the next round in September 2024 with a gestation period of July 2027 and incentives until 2032. This allocation was not extended in any way.
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The grid-scale energy storage tender is significant because it is critical to storing excess electricity and supplying it when demand rises. India routinely curtails solar generation during peak daylight hours due to insufficient storage capacity, forcing renewables to back off when the grid can’t absorb the excess.
Considered critical to the global shift away from fossil fuels, BESSs are also key to India’s energy transformation. They store electricity and supply it to the grid at peak times. India aims to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity, including wind and
