NEW DELHI: India plans to prepare an Approved List of Battery Manufacturers (ALBM) to be the exclusive equipment vendors for government-supported energy storage schemes and projects, following a similar mandate for the solar sector. The goal is to ensure the country’s energy security by encouraging local manufacturing and reducing reliance on imports.
The government may announce its plans for ALBM and introduce draft norms for localization in the current fiscal year, two people familiar with the matter said. The Centre is expected to give a timeline to battery makers and consumers to comply with the norms and localize their supply chains.
“India Battery Vision 2047 would include all aspects of the battery supply chain, ranging from acquisition of critical minerals and chemistries for battery manufacturing to large-scale deployment and adoption of batteries and their recycling. The localization norm, ALBM, is part of this long-term roadmap,” one of the two people said, requesting anonymity. The vision, led by the ministries of heavy industries and power, is a roadmap for domestic battery manufacturing to ensure national security as India targets becoming a developed economy by 2047.
The ALBM, which will act as a non-tariff barrier, will help determine who can participate in battery storage projects tendered by the government, in light of security concerns with most components imported from China. By mandating local content and a list of trusted vendors, the state can exercise tighter control over the hardware used in critical infrastructure. The move is significant, given that India plans to place 47 gigawatts (GW) of battery storage capacity orders requiring $38 billion in investments.
List benefit
In the solar sector, the approved list ensures that only high-quality, domestically manufactured solar modules are used in government-backed projects. The mandate will include solar PV cells starting 1 June this year, with future plans to extend the list to solar ingots and wafers by 2028.
“Under the vision, in the near term, the priority is to build a strong domestic manufacturing core focused on advanced chemistry cell (ACC) cell manufacturing and key ACC component manufacturing,” said the second person, who also did not want to be identified. “End-use interventions would be implemented to provide demand visibility and confidence for investors. Further, infrastructure and talent development would be supported in the phase-wise development of the sector in order to make the Indian manufacturing space globally competitive.”
The vision plan will focus on building domestic capacity for the entire battery value chain – upstream mining of critical minerals, mid-stream processing to make components, and downstream usage and adoption in electric vehicles and energy storage services. Batteries can help store electricity and feed it to the grid to meet peak power demand, given that wind and solar are infirm sources of power.
India is preparing to meet a projected cumulative battery energy storage capacity of almost 3 terawatt-hours (TWh) across electric mobility, power and electronic components by 2047, Mint reported earlier. One terawatt hour is equivalent to using 1 trillion watts of electricity continuously for one hour. A standard LED bulb uses about 10 watts.
Implementation of the much-awaited 5 GWh ACC battery manufacturing based on niche technologies supported by the government under the ongoing production-linked incentive scheme in the current fiscal is also being considered under this roadmap.
Domestic auctions
The government had planned the rollout of 5 GWh capacity under the ACC PLI scheme to support new chemistries and technologies. However, its implementation has so far been delayed.
Queries mailed to the ministries of heavy industries and power remained unanswered till press time.
Alekhya Datta, director, electricity and renewables division at The Energy and Resources Institute, a research organization focused on sustainability and energy transition, suggested prioritization of domestic auctions along with overseas offtakes for required critical minerals.
“The focus needs to shift from resource discovery to assured supply and processing. The National Critical Mineral Mission architecture is framed around scaling R&D and commercialization across the value chain," Datta said, adding that human resource development for cell manufacturing, pack integration, battery and energy management systems, and safety would be key for a sustained momentum in this space.
According to Debmalya Sen, president of the India Energy Storage Alliance, a lobby group, the ultimate aim of ALBM is to ensure cells are completely developed in India.
“In the near term, there may be a focus on developing all components other than cells in India. But going ahead, as the domestic supply chain grows, backed by government support and industry innovation, it may be mandated that some of the cells used are also local, which can then be extended to 100% localization," said Sen.