Reliance Industries has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Gujarat for a total investment of INR5.955 lakh crore (US$80 billion) over 10-15 years to establish 100GW of renewables and set up green technology manufacturing facilities in the state.
India’s largest privately traded company will invest the vast sum in setting up solar PV module manufacturing (including polysilicon, wafer and cell manufacturing), electrolysers used in green hydrogen production, battery energy storage system (BESS) technology and fuel cells.
Reliance has made a number of key investments recently that will support the latest announcement, including the acquisition of module manufacturer REC Group, investing US$29 million in German wafer technology company NexWafe, buying a 40% stake in EPC and O&M solutions provider Sterling and Wilson and stating its intentions to develop an energy storage factory in India.
The investment has been made as part of the ‘Investment Promotion Activity’ programme for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2022, Reliance said. Gujarat has been a hotbed of solar deployment in the country, with it and three other states making up the vast majority of renewables activity in India.
Reliance said its ‘Renewable Energy Power Plant and Green Hydrogen Ecosystem’ development will help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and encourage the uptake of new, renewable technologies in one of the world’s largest carbon emitters.
The company has started searching for land for the 100GW of renewables in the regions of Kutch, Banaskantha and Dholera in Gujarat, north-west India and has already applied for 4,500 acres of land in Kutch.
Furthermore, it also intends to invest an extra INR25,000 crore (US$33 billion) in existing projects and “new ventures” over the next three to five years, it said in a media release.
The announcement comes after the Indian government publicly declared its aim to establish a domestic PV manufacturing base to reduce reliance on foreign imports, increase exports and help drive renewables deployment in the country.
Tata Power Renewables’ president Ashish Khanna recently told PV Tech Premium about the “huge potential” for solar manufacturing in India.
There are a number of incentive and government support schemes available to companies wanting to set up manufacturing in India, which PV Tech Premium has laid out here.