Pillar 2 of 5 · kills: Lithium battery capex
Negligible lithium dependency.
Backup and process power come from stored heat and from fuel cells burning our own hydrogen. There is no lithium bank.
Modelled saving
₹20–27/kg
₹25–35/kg amortised → ₹5–8/kg
2 · The mechanism
Conventional plants carry ₹2–3 crore per MW in battery capex to smooth solar and to keep the site alive after dark. We route that job elsewhere. The sand battery carries daily smoothing and the first line of backup; hydrogen fuel cells — 100 kW at Punjab, 80 kW at Odisha — power the sister manufacturing line and the plant's process loads from the product we already make.
The transition is staged. Year 1 keeps a 50 kW grid backup while the fuel cells run the factory. By Year 3 the grid connection is a formality; the site is fully fuel-cell backed. The capex difference is large: ₹45–50 lakh per 100 kW fuel cell system against ₹2–2.5 crore for the lithium equivalent, a 70–75% saving on backup infrastructure.
The secondary benefit is commercial. Every industrial offtaker we talk to wants to see a fuel cell running a real load. Ours will be running our own factory eighteen hours a day.
3 · The components
Everything on this page is bought, not invented.
| What is used | Who makes it | Maturity |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrogen fuel cell, 100 kW (Punjab) | Established PEMFC supplier (in discussion) | Commercial |
| Hydrogen fuel cell, 80 kW (Odisha) | Established PEMFC supplier (in discussion) | Commercial |
| Sand battery, shared with solar layer | As above | Commercial |
| 50 kW grid backup, Year 1 only | State DISCOM connection | Standard |
Supplier names given by class. Partners are in discussion unless a written agreement exists; none is implied as an endorsement.
4 · The numbers
₹20–27/kg
Basis. Battery storage amortised at ₹25–35/kg in a conventional plant against ₹5–8/kg in ours.
Sensitivity. If fuel-cell capex runs 30% over supplier indication, the saving compresses to about ₹16/kg. It does not reverse.
- ₹45–50 lakh/100 kWsupplier spec
- /100 kW
- ₹2–2.5 Cr/100 kW equiv.industry benchmark
- /100 kW equiv.
- 70–75%lower backup capexmodelled
- lower backup capex
- 80–90%less batterymodelled
- less battery
- 50 kWgrid backup, Year 1plan
- fully fuel-cell by Year 3
5 · What we still need to prove
- 01Redundancy under a double fault — sand store depleted and fuel cell offline — is a designed scenario, not a demonstrated one.
- 02Fuel-cell stack life under an 18-hour daily duty cycle in Punjab summer ambient needs field data.