What happened

The Ministry of Heavy Industries has invited global bids to establish Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery manufacturing plants in India under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The current bid round targets 10 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of capacity.

The batteries are intended for grid-scale electricity storage, which is needed to store renewable power generated from sources such as solar and wind.

Background and earlier position

In 2021, the Union government approved an ₹18,100-crore PLI scheme for 50 GWh of ACC battery manufacturing capacity. According to the release, 40 GWh was allocated to domestic manufacturers earlier, and the remaining 10 GWh has now been opened for global bidding.

What changed now