The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI), Government of India, has selected Reliance Industries Ltd. as the successful bidder under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage.

“Reliance Industries Limited has beenawarded 10 GWh ACC capacity under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme based on QCBS mechanism,” the Ministry said in a statement.

“This initiative is another step towards enhancing domestic manufacturing capacity, reducing import dependence, and positioning India as a global leader in ACC battery manufacturing,” it added.

The Ministry said it had received bids from seven bidders under global tender for there-bidding of Production Linked Incentives (PLI) for 10 GWh Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) manufacturing with maximum budgetary outlay of ₹3,620 crore announced on January 24, 2024.

Other bidders to this tender were ACME Cleantech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Anvi Power Industries Pvt. Ltd., JSW Neo Energy Ltd., Lucas TVS Ltd., and Waaree Energies Ltd. for a cumulative capacity of 70 GWh.

“All seven (7) bids were evaluated, and six (6) companies were shortlisted for financial evaluation as per the requirements under the RFP. Accordingly, the financial bids for the qualified bidders were opened on 2^ndAugust, 2024, after announcement of the results of technical evaluation, under transparent global tender process of RFP through CPP portal of Govt. of India,” the statement added.

The Ministry said it awarded the 10 GWh PLI ACC capacity to the shortlisted bidder with highest the overall score and the remaining five shortlisted bidders are put in the waiting list as per their rank, starting from Rank II onwards. 

Bidders who were waitlisted under the programme are ACME Cleantech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Waitlist 1), Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Waitlist 2), Waaree Energies Ltd. (Waitlist 3), JSW Neo Energy Ltd. (Waitlist 4), and Lucas TVS Ltd. (Waitlist 5), it added.

In May 2021, the Cabinet had approved the technology agnostic PLI Scheme on ‘National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of Fifty (50) Giga Watt hours (GWh) of ACC with an outlay of ₹18,100 crore.