India awards 10 GWh capacity under PLI-ACC scheme to Reliance Industries

India's Union Ministry of Heavy Industries announced Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) as the successful bidder for incentives under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage.

RIL has been awarded 10 GWh ACC capacity under PLI scheme after topping rankings in the Quality & Cost Based Selection (QCBS) process.

MHI had received bids from seven companies under the global tender which offered maximum budgetary outlay of ₹3,620 crore --- ACME Cleantech Solutions, Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies, Anvi Power Industries, JSW Neo Energy, Lucas TVS, Reliance Industries, and Waaree Energies. Each had bid for 10 GWh capacity, for a cumulative bid of 70 GWh capacity.

After evaluating the bids, MHI shortlisted six bidders for financial evaluation as per the requirements under the RFP. Financial bids were opened on August 2 and final evaluation was carried out as per the QCBS mechanism.

The process resulted in bidders being ranked based on their combined technical and financial scores, and MHI awarded the 10 GWh PLI-ACC capacity to the shortlisted bidder with highest overall score, in this case RIL. 

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The remaining five bidders have been put on a waiting list as per their final ranking, revealed as ACME Cleantech Solutions first, followed by Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies, Waaree Energies, JSW Neo Energy and Lucas TVS Ltd.

In a press release, MHI called the initiative "another step towards enhancing domestic manufacturing capacity, reducing import dependence, and positioning India as a global leader in ACC battery manufacturing."

India launched its technology-agnostic PLI scheme in May 2021 for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh of ACC with an outlay of ₹18,100 crore.

The first round of the ACC PLI bidding was concluded in March 2022, and three beneficiary firms were allocated a combined capacity of 30 GWh.