India’s expanding energy storage market is poised to attract more than $3 billion in new investments over the next three years, according to a new study by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).
The IESA said the bulk of the investment is expected to go into setting up two to four Gigafactories for the manufacture of advanced lithium-ion batteries.
India is already “one of the largest markets for lead-acid batteries with annual sales of $6bn”, the IESA’s study said. The country is “now poised to adopt advanced energy storage technologies that can act as enablers for 21st-century electric grid and transition to eMobility”.
The IESA said India “may have missed the manufacturing opportunity while adopting technology transitions such as cellular telephones and solar energy— but there is still time to build a world-class manufacturing infrastructure for advanced energy storage”.
“The IESA estimates the market opportunity to be 50-70 GW by 2022,” the study said. “Opportunities for energy storage in India cover the full range of applications— grid-scale energy storage for optimising transmission and distribution investments and enabling renewable energy integration, to providing energy access through microgrids… and batteries for the ambitious electric mobility programme where India is targeting to move to all electric vehicles by 2030”.
More than 1GWh of annual assembly capacity is already being set up to convert imported Li-on cells into battery modules for use by Indian companies, the IESA said.
Earlier this month, the IESA teamed up with the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association to host a “two-day master class” in Mumbai to promote business opportunities for companies interested in energy storage technology, applications and manufacturing processes.
The “complete range” of energy storage technologies was showcased including Li-ion, advanced lead-acid, flow batteries, flywheels, ultra-capacitors and other emerging technologies, the IESA said.
The event was part of a programme of activities backed by the IESA aimed at helping Indian firms enter or diversify into advanced energy storage manufacturing and to consider export opportunities.
IESA executive director Rahul Walawalkar (pictured) said: “We aim to make India a global hub for manufacturing advanced energy storage systems by 2022.”
In September, an IESA paper said lead-acid business in India is set to soar over the next few years and demand from stationary and motive applications will more than double in value.
BBB reported earlier this month that Japan-based lead-acid battery manufacturer GS Yuasa will build a second motorcycle batteries production line at its plant in India in 2018, doubling annual production there to up to 240 million units.
