India could easily surpass 150GWh ACC battery manufacturing target

India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) on Tuesday kicked off its third annual battery manufacturing and supply chain convention in Hyderabad city on Tuesday (Jan. 23) to deliberate on India's battery manufacturing capability and explore ways to support the development of a robust battery supply chain ecosystem in the country.

With over 300+ registered participants, Day 1 of India Battery Manufacturing and Supply Chain Summit (IBMSCS)  2024 witnessed Telangana state officials and major battery manufacturing and battery materials companies participate in the inaugural session.

"The kind of emphasis our national government has given under the ACC PLI scheme, the support provided by some states like Telangana, and the dynamism of the private sector, all augurs well for our country," said Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce (I&C) and IT, Govt of Telangana.

Ranjan added, that he sees no difficulty in achieving the target of 150GWh ACC by 2030, and India could possibly go beyond that too.

Automotive battery major, Amara Raja, headquartered in Hyderabad shared the details of its 16GWh lithium-ion cell giga factory and upcoming R&D facility E-positive Energy Lab in the state.

"The first phase [of Amara Raja giga factory] will be completed in less than 24 months, which means our first giga factory will be operational before the end of next calendar year (2025)," said Vijayanand Samudrala, President of Amara Raja, speaking at the conference.

In addition to Amara Raja's 16GWh battery manufacturing facility, the Telangana govt. earlier this month signed an agreement with GODI India for a 12GWh battery manufacturing facility and disclosed that it is in the advanced stages of talks with a few other companies.

"We are confident that of the target (150GWh ACC battery manufacturing) 1/5th or 30GWh will come our way," Ranjan highlighted.

Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President & MD, CES India & President, IESA underscored the massive opportunity present in the entire battery value chain.

With several countries around the world setting up ACC cell manufacturing facilities and looking at diversifying their supply chains, battery manufacturing presents a critical opportunity to not only support domestic giga factories coming up in India but also to support global battery manufacturing," he added.

IESA forecasts global battery capacity to reach about 8,000 GWh to 9,000 GWh by 2030.