As the demand for critical minerals increases, the Indo Pacific region will need an additional supply chain to meet demand and minimise risks associated with being reliant on only one supplier of processed minerals. MinterEllison’s workshop series brought together experts from government, industry and research sectors across Australia, India, Japan, Korea and UK to explore the challenges and opportunities for cross regional partnerships and projects across the value chain of critical minerals supply chains.  

This report assembles a holistic policy solution framework and set of options to catalyse the sector. This report explores three broad types of support, each with different intended outcomes:

The study is focused on documenting the status quo of battery technologies used in electric vehicles, Indian and global battery standards, and policy frameworks in India vis-à-vis global counterparts.In addition to the external environment, battery value chain elements viz. battery manufacturing, battery swapping, battery disposal, recycling, and reuse are also studied in detail to understand the technological and policy landscape in India. Owing to the nascent nature of the value chain, outputs from primary interactions have been integrated into the study to provide the picture of on ground realities.

Hydrogen in India is primarily used as an industrial feedstock in manufacturing ammonia-based fertilizers, petroleum refining processes and methanol. Although the current use cases are dominated within the refining and ammonia sectors, it is expected that additional demand would arise from other segments, including steel, cement, heavy mobility and the power sector. To develop a robust hydrogen economy, policymakers must understand the value chain of hydrogen – right from production to its diverse applications – including production technologies, storage, transport and distribution, infrastructure (pipelines, ports, refuelling stations), vehicular applications and electricity/gas grids. By 2030, India is expected to increase its hydrogen demand by several times across multiple sectors. Analyzing the current and emerging demand, the pace of transition to a green hydrogen-based economy will be based on two key parameters: the ease and the cost of adoption. The earliest adoption of green hydrogen is expected in refining, fertilizer production & chemical manufacturing – and in the coming decade, majority of the incremental hydrogen capacity addition could be driven by green hydrogen. Additionally, import substitution could drive large green hydrogen capacity addition (feeding into low carbon ammonia production) in sectors that import ammonia, primarily fertilizers.

'EV Ready India: Giving EV batteries a Second Life'. Second-life batteries provide a reliable, cheap, and efficient solution for stationary storage applications and could potentially solve India's energy crisis to some extent. The study identifies potential applications and challenges of second-life batteries while suggesting a holistic way forward to prioritize them.

This report presents a snapshot of commercially available EV battery technologies today as well as the state of R&D in EV battery technologies. It also provides recommendations on how to strengthen industry–academia collaboration to promote uptake of these technologies. 

This report estimates India’s future demand for batteries under two scenarios: an “accelerated” scenario and a “conservative” scenario. The accelerated scenario assumes the current policy momentum for EVs, renewables, and other end-use applications. This will trigger the market and lead to high penetration of these technologies. In the accelerated scenario, battery demand rises in line with expected success of India’s ambitions and incentives around vehicle electrification and grid decarbonization. The conservative scenario assumes battery demand rises in line with the most conservative expert forecasts.

This report provides guidance and insights in development of standards for High-Energy Lithium-Ion Traction Battery Packs and Systems.

This study focuses on the challenges and successes seen in the deployment of renewable energy in medium-sized cities, which are defined as ranging in population from 30 000 to 1 million inhabitants. City case studies in this report provide specific evidence from three widely divergent countries: China, Uganda, and Costa Rica.   The findings of this study aim to support countries in the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions by empowering cities to deploy sustainable energy solutions and contribute to reductions in GHG emissions. The report situates the case studies in an analytical framework that describes the motivations and drivers of urban action and considers cities’ needs and capacities to act.

The study highlights the critical role of enhancing system flexibility and maintaining grid dependability through a spectrum of flexible resources, such as energy storage, demand response (load shifting), existing natural gas power plants used more flexibly, and electricity markets. Specifically, we find that the leastcost resource mix to meet India’s load in 2030 (the “Primary Least Cost Case”) consists primarily of a combination of RE and flexible resources as follows: 465 GW of RE (307 GWDC solar, 142 GW wind, and 15 GW other RE), 63 GW (252 GWh) of battery storage, 60 GW of load shifting to solar hours (50 GW agricultural + 10 GW industrial), and flexible operation of the existing natural gas fleet of 25 GW. A coal power plant capacity of 229 GW (23 GW net addition over 2020) is found to be cost-effective (Table ES1). The study signals investment opportunities that could spur creation of a robust pipeline of flexible resources, most notably battery storage. For example, the total investment required by 2030 for battery storage alone is Rs 300,000 Cr ($40 billion) for 63 GW (252 GWh) of batteries. If low-cost energy storage is not deployed at such scale, additional thermal investments beyond the 23 GW of net additions will be needed through 2030 to meet peak demand, but such assets will operate at low capacity factors.

This status report aims to present a snapshot of the current and projected costs of energy storage in India for behind-the-meter (BtM) applications. The levelised cost of storage is an important financial parameter indicating the feasibility of energy storage systems.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Working Group1 report, Climate Change: The Physical Science Basis,6 released in August 2021, sent a resounding message that global warming is happening faster, affecting every region on Earth, in multiple ways. And the role of human influence on the changing climate is undisputed: greenhouse gases from human activities are responsible for approximately 1.1°C of warming since 1850-1900.   The report states that, while achieving a 1.5°C world is still possible, stabilizing the climate will require strong, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and the reaching of net-zero CO2 emissions. It will require a radical and urgent transformation of all systems at an unprecedented scale.   This document aims to highlight key recommendations from the business perspective that would help overcome initial cost and technical barriers and accelerate the deployment of hydrogen with the lowest possible carbon intensity.

Over the last few years, there has been growing encouragement of local manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries and other EV components with policy measures such as the PLI scheme and proposals for manufacturing giga factories entering the fray. In light of a tumultuous and unpredictable global trade environment, localisation of value chains and production capabilities has become a necessity, especially with the pandemic-induced disruption of supply chains overly dependent on China. This white paper locates itself in the context of such challenges and opportunities for India’s EV manufacturing industry. It underscores the potential of Indian States to help India become an EV manufacturing powerhouse. Identifying certain vital factors that are essential for a region’s manufacturing success, it points out states which possess a competitive advantage under the given domain. The white paper argues for states to strategically realign their supply-side incentives and industrial policy tenets to fully leverage their respective competitive advantages to hasten the creation of robust, localised EV value chains that can cater to the world.

The Handbook for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Implementation - Version 1 offers a systematic approach that guides implementing authorities and stakeholders on planning, authorization, and execution of EV charging infrastructure. It presents an overview of the technological and regulatory frameworks and governance structures needed to facilitate EV charging, along with a step-by-step approach to build out the implementation roadmap. While the handbook focuses on the present needs of charging infrastructure development, it also touches upon considerations for future planning.

Unlocking Australia-India Critical Minerals Partnership Potential examines demand drivers in India for critical minerals and growth outlook for downstream sectors, including emerging industries such as electric mobility and renewables. he report highlights Australia-India trade, investment and R&D partnership opportunities across the critical minerals supply chain.  It also provides recommendations to government and industry on progressing cooperation, including to address supply chain vulnerabilities.