India launches tender for 10 GWh battery cell manufacturing capacity for grid storage

India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has launched a global tender to establish 10 GWh of advanced chemistry cell (ACC) manufacturing capacity for grid-scale stationary storage under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

Bidders are required to submit separate technical and financial bids. Financial bids will be opened only for applicants that qualify in the technical evaluation.

Technical bids will be assessed based on the bidder’s committed domestic value addition and proposed manufacturing capacity. To qualify, bidders must commit to achieving at least 25% domestic value addition within two years of the appointed date and at least 40% within five years. They must also commit to installing between 1 GWh and 4 GWh of ACC manufacturing capacity within five years. Qualified bidders will be ranked according to their technical scores.

Selected companies will be eligible to receive incentives under the PLI scheme.

The deadline for bid submission is Oct. 13, 2026, with technical bids set to open on Oct. 14.

The tender is launched as part of the National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, approved by the Union Cabinet in May 2021 with a budget of INR 18,100 crore to support 50 GWh of domestic ACC manufacturing capacity.

According to the ministry, 40 GWh of the targeted manufacturing capacity has already been allocated under previous rounds of the PLI scheme. The remaining 10 GWh has been earmarked for grid-scale stationary storage applications to support India’s growing energy storage requirements as renewable energy deployment expands.

From pv magazine India