12
NATIONAL NEWS
Energy Storage
PM Modi urges businesses to invest in battery manufacturing and R&D
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 11 delivered the inaugural address to the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) addressing the industry and business leaders via video conferencing. PM stressed that India is faced with many challenges such as COVID-19, cyclone, earthquakes and more but there is a need find a way to convert these challenges into opportunities, and termed ‘self-reliance’ as the key to moving forward in a post-pandemic world. PM urged the industrial body and businesses to carve out strategies to achieve this goal by increasing investment in R&D and manufacturing across various industries, and especially those which are currently
heavily reliant on imports of goods such as medical equipment, defence manufacturing, coal and minerals sector, electronics and solar panels, batteries and chip manufacturing and the aviation sector. Speaking of the need for self-sufficiency in renewable sector PM Modi commented, “Invest in R&D and manufacturing of better batteries to increase the power storage capacity of the solar panel in the country. You can do handholding of MSMEs, and other such institutions, that are engaged in this work.” “In the changing world, solar rechargeable batteries are going to be a huge market. India can become a huge hub in this area,” he added. Highlighting the work of International Solar Alliance PM Modi
PM Narendra Modi addressing the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Source: ANI news
said, “Efforts are being made to share the benefits that India sees for itself in the field of solar energy with the whole world. I request all the members of the Indian Chamber of Commerce to extend their contribution and investment towards the targets set for renewable energy, solar power generation in the country.” He also highlighted that there is a need to be “vocal for local” i.e. arts and crafts which are indigenous or locally manufactured need to promoted and he stressed on the need to control the trend of getting the same goods from abroad.
Advanced cell battery storage recognized as ‘Champion Sector’ as a part of 'self-reliant' India Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 16, announced government plans to launch an incentive scheme for the promotion of new “champion sectors” with a focus on advanced cell battery storage and solar PV manufacturing in an effort towards making ‘Self-Reliant India’ (Aatma Nirbhar Bharat). The emphasis of this scheme is on cell manufacturing as it aims to reduce India’s reliance on the import of battery cells and substitute it with domestic manufacturing. The plan is to come up with a suitable performance-linked fiscal incentive
Image for representation only
program to incentivize advanced cell chemistry (ACC) manufacturing in India, said Aman Hans, PublicPrivate Partnership Consultant at the NITI Aayog and Secretary of the ACC Battery Storage Program. The minimum size for individual factory under the proposed mission is 5 GWh and the maximum is 20 GWh. The performance-linked incentive scheme is designed such that the government will be giving actual cash incentive to the ACC manufacturers. The subsidy disbursement will be based on the levels of performance specifications (i.e. cell cycle life and energy density) of ACC manufactured and the ability of the firm to make actual sales in the market. NITI Aayog has also proposed to incentivize the entire national ACC manufacturing by proposing a composite matrix of customs duty
| May-June 2020
which will be imposed to facilitate trade for upstream components like raw materials and cell component and there will be relaxation in terms of import duties. While for companies importing end component where the domestic value addition is very minimal, there will be higher custom duty. In addition, for investor assurance, the government will be executing a composite agreement that will ensure the bankability of such projects. The National Mission for Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage will be the implementing agency for the scheme and the application process will be conducted through a transparent bidding process. The government is in the final stages of evaluating a 50GWh ACC manufacturing proposal of NITI Aayog and official program launch date is yet to be announced.
