The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) organised a pre-bid conference for prospective bidders for the ACC Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

 The pre-bid conference received wide participation and interest from bidders both in person and virtually with around 100 participants from about 20 companies. 

Key features of the selection process include satisfying the eligibility criteria, transparent bidding process, full flexibility in innovation for ACC battery manufacturing, optimised payment structures, promoting self-reliant India through domestic value addition and setting up of ACC manufacturing facilities. 

Presentations were made on the terms and conditions, technical details of ACC manufacturing and various incentives and opportunities to promote ACC battery manufacturing in the country. In the pre-bid conference, the queries of the bidders were addressed and they were asked to seek any further clarification through e-mail. 

The bidding will be held online through a transparent two stage process under the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) mechanism. MHI had earlier released RFP on October 22, 2021 inviting bidders for a total manufacturing capacity of ACC battery storage of 50 GigaWatt Hour (GWh) with an outlay of Rs.18,100 crore. 

The bidding will be held online through a transparent two-stage process, under the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) mechanism. 

ACCs are the new generation advanced storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy as and when required. The consumer electronics, electric vehicles, advanced electricity grids, solar roof top etc. which are major battery consuming sectors are expected to achieve robust growth in sales volume in the coming years. It is expected that the dominant battery technologies will control some of the world’s largest growth sectors.