Indian multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries is on track to open solar and battery storage production facilities by the end of this year and next, respectively.
According to a statement by Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani, production of solar PV modules will begin before the end of this year, while production at a battery gigafactory will begin in the second half of next year.
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Speaking at the group’s 47th AGM on 29 August in Mumbai, India, Ambani presented the developments as part of a strategy to further Reliance’s involvement in deep-tech sectors and advanced manufacturing, supporting a developed India (or ‘Viksit Bharat’).
Reliance is perhaps better known for its involvement in the oil and gas sectors, but it has diversified into a very broad range of business areas, including telecoms, financial services, textiles, and beauty products, as well as renewable energy technology and plant development.
The company’s Reliance New Energy subsidiary is building a US$7.2 billion green energy manufacturing complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The site will eventually include solar PV, battery cell and storage systems, electrolysers, raw and auxiliary materials, power electronics and semiconductor production facilities, and an R&D centre.
Bifacial PV module efficiency to exceed 26% from the start
Reliance New Energy Solar acquired REC Group in 2021 and is leveraging the Singapore-headquartered solar manufacturer and materials company’s tech for its integrated solar production facilities. In 2022, it said the plant, with an initial 10GW of annual production capacity across a range of components, would start coming online during 2024.
Reliance chairman Ambani confirmed in his AGM statement that the factory will be making heterojunction (HJT) PV modules by the end of this year. The integrated facility will begin producing other components “in the following quarters,” Ambani said, including cells, glass, wafers, ingots and polysilicon.
“Our gigafactory is designed for modular expansion at minimal cost and in the shortest time possible,” the chairman said.
“We have fully integrated and indigenised the HJT technology from REC Singapore, our wholly owned subsidiary, to develop first-gen bifacial solar panels with cell efficiency exceeding 26%.”
Read the full version of this story on our sister site, Energy-Storage.news.
This story has been amended from its original form to reflect that Reliance Industries acquired REC Group, and not REC Silicon, in 2021.
