Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 09 2023

AsiaElec BATTERIES AsiaElec

Massive investment needed

in India’s battery tech

INDIA INDIA’s Council on Energy, Environment battery manufacturing systems within the country.”
and Water (CEEW) has released a study titled Jain was referring to calculations made by
‘How can India indigenise lithium-ion battery CEEW and comments made in the study that
manufacturing?’ current minimum level production plant capacity
As part of the report, the CEEW estimates that being allocated under the nation’s PLI system stands
nationwide, around $4.5bn is needed in the form at 5 GWh.
of direct and indirect investments in lithium-ion However, with around 250 GWh of energy
battery plants. required each year to operate just 5 GWh of pro-
The figure, while surprising to many in India, duction facility, over time it will become increas-
is seen as the minimum amount required to help ingly important for India to hold enough of its own
the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi lithium to meet demand. Reports in the
achieve its much-lauded production-linked incen- Fortunately in the short term at least, a govern-
tive (PLI) goal of establishing 50 GWh of domestic ment report last month unveiled a find of almost past year have
battery manufacturing facilities by the end of the 6mn tonnes of lithium in the extreme north of the
decade. country, in Jammu and Kashmir, near the border estimated that
Reports in the past year have estimated that with Pakistan.
nationwide, India needs over 900 GWh of storage The CEEW senior official went on to add that nationwide
capacity to be able to move towards full and effec- the lithium find and positioning of adequate infra- India needs
tive decarbonisation of its power generation indus- structure “will reduce our dependence on other
tries in that time frame. countries in the long run, and power our grid and over 900 GWh
Following the release of the report, senior pro- EV transition. To scale up domestic lithium-ion
gramme lead at CEEW Rishabh Jain was reported manufacturing, India should step up research and of storage
as saying that “for a green future, minerals like lith- development investments, focus on battery cell
ium will be as important as oil and gas are today. component manufacturing and reducing material capacity.
It’s in India’s strategic interest to secure not just the costs, and support recycling to reduce the need for
mineral, but also to set up the required cell and new materials.”™

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