An Indian clean energy firm hopes to bring down the cost of lithium-ion cell manufacturing below INR15,000/kWh (US$222) by setting up a facility in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

A Tesla spokeswoman has confirmed that the company’s current undertaking to build a 129MWh battery storage facility will not use long-time supplier and partner Panasonic’s lithium-ion cells.

The secretary of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Anand Kumar has stressed the importance of energy storage to the overall renewables sector and invited industry to come and set up battery manufacturing in India.

New York’s chief economic development agency Empire State Development is launching a battery cell assembly facility in Eastman Business Park (EBP), Rochester, which will serve battery and capacitor companies, in collaboration with the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST).

Tesla and Panasonic’s Gigafactory in the Nevada desert has now started making high performance cylindrical battery cells of the type used in its stationary storage and forthcoming Model 3.