China’s Envision Group is exploring the possibility of setting up a battery manufacturing plant in India, aiming to capitalize on the country’s growing efforts to upgrade its power grid to support more renewable energy. The company sees strong potential as India begins scaling up its energy storage market.
Envision Eyes 5 GWh Battery Unit to Support Grid Modernization
Once the emerging market gains momentum, Envision hopes to enter the sector with a 5 gigawatt-hours-per-year, $34 million battery unit, said Suman Nag, Global Head for Contracts at Envision Group. The proposed project plans to procure battery cells from China while building racks and software infrastructure locally.
Nag emphasized, “As an Indian subsidiary of a Chinese company, we’ll be happy to localize,” he said. “Just passing the equipment through our books and counting it as sales adds no value to our company in India.” He expects to take a final decision within the next 18 months, depending on the market’s trajectory.
Storage Shortages Challenge India’s Renewable Energy Ambitions
India’s rapid expansion of renewable energy increasingly faces hurdles because limited storage capacity restricts the stability of electricity supply. Due to this constraint, grid operators often curtail excess solar power that they could otherwise store during the day and release at night. Although India currently operates with less than 1 GW of battery storage capacity, investors are showing growing interest. Projections indicate that the country’s storage capacity will reach 46 GW by 2032, creating a major opportunity for technology providers like Envision.
Batteries Can Transform Grid Management
As reported by thehindubusinessline.com, and according to Nag, batteries can play a pivotal role in strengthening India’s power system. “There’s a lot that a battery can do in India today,” he said. “We are currently trying to do grid frequency management from our coal plants, which take hours to ramp up and ramp down. Batteries can do that job in milliseconds.”
