Amara Raja, Megha Engineering among 22 bidders in Centre’s 10 GWh grid battery tender

Two companies with roots in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are among 22 contenders for the last slice of capacity in the Centre’s battery cell incentive scheme. The Union Ministry of Heavy Industries said on Thursday, 12 November, that its grid battery tender for 10 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) production capacity had drawn 22 bids. The ministry opened the technical bids on Wednesday, 11 November, in front of the bidders.

This round is set aside for stationary storage on the power grid: large battery banks that hold electricity from solar and wind plants and release it to the grid later. Winning firms must build giga-scale cell factories in India to qualify for the production-linked incentive (PLI).

Telugu-state firms in the field

Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies, the cell-making arm of Amara Raja Energy & Mobility, has bid. The Amara Raja group has its registered office at Karakambadi in Tirupati and runs its corporate operations from Hyderabad. On its website, the company puts the planned capacity of its gigafactory at Divitipally in Telangana at 16 GWh.

Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures has also bid. Others in the list include Reliance Industries, JSW Neo Energy, Exide Energy Solutions, Waaree Energy Storage Solutions, ACME Solar Holdings, Avaada Electro, ReNew Photovoltaics and Vikram Solar. The ministry published all 22 names with its release.

40 GWh already handed out

The Union Cabinet cleared the scheme in May 2021, setting aside Rs 18,100 crore and aiming for 50 GWh of domestic cell capacity. In the first round, the ministry gave 30 GWh to three firms: Ola Cell Technologies (20 GWh), ACC Energy Storage (5 GWh) and Reliance New Energy Battery Storage (5 GWh). A second round awarded 10 GWh to Reliance New Energy Battery. The 10 GWh now on the table is all that is left.

The scheme runs for seven years: a two-year gestation period, then five years in which incentives are tied to performance. In figures released on 28 July, the ministry said one giga-scale factory rated at 1.4 GWh had come up under the scheme. Investment had reached Rs 5,180 crore by 31 May 2026, with 1,277 people in direct employment.

The tender was posted to the Central Public Procurement Portal on 15 July, and a pre-bid conference followed on 29 July. Bids closed on 10 November. Selection runs online in two stages under the Quality and Cost Based Selection method, with technical bids taken up first. The ministry has not said when it will name the winning firms.