India’s Vikram Solar to make solid-state batteries for energy storage

Vikram Solar plans to set up a 1 GWh, fully integrated, solid-state cell and battery manufacturing facility with a proprietary battery management system technology.

The PV manufacturer said the factory will initially be designed to scale up to 5 GWh of annual production capacity to cater to the growing demand of a rapidly evolving global energy storage market.

Vikram Solar Chairman and Managing Director Gyanesh Chaudhary said, “Our solid-state batteries, developed and manufactured with [a] majority [of] components which are India-made, support [the] atmanirbharta’ [self-reliance, national campaign], and align with India’s renewable energy and climate goals. Leveraging the technology of our partners, Entity2 Energy Storage – which holds several patents for non-lithium solid-state battery technologies – we are committed to producing batteries that can be scaled up to meet … growing energy needs.”

Solid-state batteries offer advantages such as greater storage capacity than lithium-ion devices, due to minimal losses of electroactive metal, and reduced risk of fire and overheating. Solid-state devices can work in a wide range of temperature and operating conditions without dendrite formation and can offer stable performance for 10,000 cycles. Solid-state devices are also stable at high charge rates of up to 5C, five times faster than the baseline, one-hour 1C, meaning solid-state devices remain stable while being fully recharged in 12 minutes.

Materials

The majority of raw materials used in solid-state batteries can be sourced in India, ensuring supply chain resilience and supporting domestic industry.

Solid-state batteries are also said to be recyclable, eco-friendly, and manufactured from non-hazardous components, minimizing their environmental impact.

Citing a report published by Indian ratings agency Crisil, Vikram Solar’s Chaudhary said, “India meets only 15% to 20% of its power requirement from renewable energy and the revised target is 50% of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030. To accommodate such a high proportion of variable generation in the overall energy mix, there will be a need of additional investment in battery storage. Vikram Solar’s PowerHive battery storage is our response to this need. As per [the] Crisil report, projections are showing a 23 GW to 24 GW capacity addition in battery energy storage systems (BESS) over the fiscal years 2025 to 2030.”

Already a solar panel manufacturer, Vikram Solar intends to offer integrated solar and storage solutions with the addition of its planned battery fab. The company said its partner network and R&D capabilities would offer it a competitive edge when developing disruptive innovation in battery chemistry.

Headquartered in Kolkata, in West Bengal, Vikram Solar has a cumulative annual PV production capacity of 4.5 GW. It is a Top Performer in the PV Module Reliability scorecard compiled by US-based testing company PV Evolution Labs and has been designated a tier 1 solar module manufacturer by analyst Bloomberg NEF.

From pv magazine India.