American e-commerce giant Amazon has decided to pump in $35 billion into its India operations, with most of it being focused on AI. With the entirety of the investment to be fulfilled by 2030, this will add to the $40 billion already invested in the country, reported Times of India. This was announced just a day after another tech giant Microsoft announced an investment of $17.5 billion in India, most of which would again be geared towards building data centers and scaling up AI capacities.
Vingroup to expand Indian footprint with investment of $3 billion in Telangana
Vingroup, the largest conglomerate of Vietnam, has plans to expand its footprint in India after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Telangana state government for establishing a multi-sector ecosystem. The investment will be around $3 billion. This follows the setting up of a vehicle manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, under its electric vehicle subsidiary VinFast.
Vingroup’s proposed project in Telangana will include smart urban development, electric mobility, healthcare, education, tourism and renewable energy. The land needed for it is roughly 2,500 hectares, reported Reuters. The state government will make land acquisition, coordination, and planning easier so that the project happens fast.
Concerns raised about economic viability of battery energy storage systems in India
India saw dismally low bids for building battery energy storage systems. According to the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), the country has tendered out 83 GWh of battery storage capacity since 2021, but that should spike up to 236 GWh by 2032. This has raised concerns that battery storage projects can be economically unviable and pose safety risks, according to a report by Reuters.
It is crucial that battery projects are undertaken if India has to meet its goal of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030. Currently, 36 GWh of projects have been awarded and 15.4 GWh are in the open tender stage, according to the IESA. 18 GWh are being built, while 8 GWh of projects have been cancelled.
EU postpones auto sector and CBAM proposals
The EU is most likely going to delay the release of its auto sector reforms as well as widen its CBAM tariff to include washing machines and other products, according to Reuters. Both policies were supposed to be released on December 10, but have now been pushed to December 16. This speculation is backed by the fact that the EU has delayed the release of the auto sector proposals by a week. There is a possibility that it can be delayed till 2026 as well.
This delay will most likely weaken the EU’s 2035 ban on new internal combustion cars. It will be applauded by automakers and countries like Germany and Italy, which have a strong auto manufacturing base. However, this could potentially weaken the EU’s climate policy, and delay its net zero targets.
EU’s auto sector proposal delay can weaken its 2035 ban on ICE cars
The postponing of the release of auto sector proposals in the EU has made EV makers worried. Reuters reported that the automotive package to be released on December 16 can dilute the EU’s resolve to ban new combustion engine cars from 2035 onwards.
While almost 200 EV manufacturers across the continent signed an open letter to President Ursula von der Leyen, urging the EU to stick to the 2035 ban, lobbying by the traditional auto sector including German automakers and the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association can delay the ban.
Campaign groups E-Mobility Europe and ChargeUp Europe are concerned that bringing back technologies like plug-in hybrids and CO2-neutral fuels will delay the shift to electric vehicles, giving the competitive edge to Chinese EV makers.
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