The Bengaluru facility is Midwest Energy’s first giga-scale battery energy storage manufacturing plant in India. The company currently has a rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing facility in Hyderabad.
“We’ve invested about ₹100 crore in this plant, excluding the land, and at full capacity we expect revenues of around ₹1,000 crore,” the CEO said.The plant has an annual manufacturing capacity of 1.2 GWh and features integrated “cell-to-container” manufacturing capabilities, enabling production of battery modules, trays, racks and fully integrated containerised battery energy storage systems for commercial, industrial, renewable energy and utility-scale applications.
Expansion to 6 GWh in three years
Midwest Energy is already planning to expand capacity beyond the newly commissioned plant.
She said the existing facility can be scaled up to 2 GWh through further automation, while the company is targeting 6 GWh of manufacturing capacity over the next three years. The company has already secured sufficient land for future expansion.
Midwest Energy commences commercial production at its 1.2 GWh BESS manufacturing facility in Bengaluru.
Alongside manufacturing expansion, Midwest Energy will establish a 30,000 sq. ft. research and development centre at the Bengaluru site by shifting its existing R&D operations from Hyderabad.
The company currently employs around 50-55 people across manufacturing and R&D and expects the workforce to increase to 150 employees over the next year.
Rare earth magnet plant to go live by Sept
Beyond battery storage, Midwest Energy is accelerating its rare earth magnet manufacturing plans amid India’s efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese supplies.
The company said its 500-tonne rare earth permanent magnet plant is nearly complete and is expected to commence operations by September. It also plans to scale capacity to 5,000 tonnes over time.She confirmed the company will apply under the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for rare earth magnets before the July 29 deadline.
“We are applying for the PLI scheme. Our first 500-tonne plant is almost ready and will go live by September. We are ultimately targeting 5,000 tonnes,” she said.
As a mining company, Midwest Energy is also pursuing backward integration.
“On the rare earth side, we are a mine-to-magnet company. We have our own mines coming up, giving us backward integration,” she said.
Localisation push, but battery supply chain remains import-dependent
While the company said around 40% of its battery system components are already sourced domestically, it continues to rely on imports for certain critical components needed to meet international certification standards.
According to the CEO, some components are currently sourced from China because equivalent Indian suppliers are not yet available for products undergoing UL certification.
The company expects to localise most of these components within a year by developing an ecosystem of domestic suppliers.
“We have to source certain components from China because there are no Indian suppliers that meet UL certification requirements today. Within one year, we plan to replace most of them with locally developed suppliers,” she said.
Seeks incentives for battery manufacturing
The CEO said the battery manufacturing industry requires government support similar to other strategic manufacturing sectors.
She noted that large industrial groups, including Tata and JSW, have already approached the government on the issue and indicated Midwest Energy would also seek incentives for battery manufacturing.
“We need some incentives for sure,” she said.
According to the company, the Bengaluru facility has been designed to manufacture battery energy storage systems ranging from 3 kWh to 6 MWh, with products aligned to UL 1973, UL 9540 and UL 9540A standards. Midwest Energy plans to supply customised energy storage solutions to both domestic and international markets.
