Vikram Solar mulls entry into cell, battery manufacturing

Vikram Solar plans to set up a 1GWh solid-state cell and battery manufacturing facility in Chennai.

Vikram Solar Ltd., which is into solar photo-voltaic (PV) module manufacturing has announced plans to set up a 1GWh fully integrated solid-state cell and battery manufacturing facility with proprietary battery management system (BMS) technology.

This facility to be located in Chennai can be scaled up to 5 GWh. It is expected to cater to the growing energy demands in the global market.

Gyanesh Chaudhary, chairman & managing director, Vikram Solar, said “Our solid-state batteries, [to be] developed and manufactured with majority components which are India-made align with India’s renewable energy and climate goals.”

“Leveraging the technology of our partners, Entity2 Energy Storage Pvt. Ltd., which holds several patents for non-lithium solid-state battery technologies, we will produce batteries that can be scaled up to meet the growing energy needs.” he said.

 “As per Crisil report, at present India meets only 15-20% 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,” he added. 

“As per Crisil report, projections are showing a 23-24 GW capacity addition in battery energy storage systems (BESS) over the fiscal years 2025 to 2030,” he further said.