RIL’s first solar giga factory this fiscal

Stable and round-the-clock cost-efficient green power is the need of the hour. India needs to solve this problem to maintain its growth trajectory and reach $32-trn GDP by 2047, RIL said in its annual report

Green Drive

♦ Reliance in 2021 announced plans to invest $10 bn over 3 yrs

♦ Will develop a new fuels business based on 100-GW of RE capacity by 2030

♦ Plan involves setting up 4 giga factories

♦ They will make renewables equipment, battery storage, fuel cells and hydrogen at Jamnagar

New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India’s most valuable company, plans to commission its first solar giga-factory in the current fiscal as it pivots a green pathway to achieve net zero carbon emissions from operations by 2025. In its largest annual report, the firm said it is targeting to commission the first train of 20GW solar PV (photovoltaic) manufacturing by the end of 2024-25 fiscal (April 2024 to March 2025) and scale up to 20GW in a phased manner over 2026. The solar giga factory will include manufacturing of PV modules, cells, wafers and ingots, polysilicon, and glass at a single location. The modules convert sunlight into electricity. It is also targeting industrialising sodium-ion cell production at the MW level in 2025 and first 50 MWh a year lithium battery cells pilot in 2026.

Reliance had in 2021 announced plans to invest $10 billion over three years to develop a new fuels business based on 100 GW of renewable power capacity by 2030. The plan involves setting up four giga factories for manufacturing renewables equipment, battery storage, fuel cells and hydrogen at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

“We have made significant progress in establishing factories that will be part of our Integrated Solar PV Manufacturing. New Energy will be commissioning its first train of Module and Cell Manufacturing in FY25,” the firm said in the annual report.

Solar panels manufactured in Jamnagar have obtained BIS certification. “Parallelly, work on renewable energy development has commenced and Reliance has been allotted land in Gujarat,” it said.

“We aim to become the largest renewable energy (RE) developer in India.”

Besides commissioning the first train of module and cell of 20GW of solar PV manufacturing, 2024-25 may also see industrialise sodium ion cell production at a MW level. Next year, PV factory is to be scaled to 20GW in a phased manner, and a battery giga factory starting with a 50 MWh a year lithium battery cells pilot set up. In FY27, it plans to establish a cell-to-pack manufacturing facility of 50 GWh and will set up 100 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The 100GW target will propel the company into the front rank of renewables ambitions globally, joining the likes of Enel, Iberdrola and oil players TotalEnergies and BP in the scale of capacity additions envisaged. Reliance said fossil fuels have historically fed India’s power requirements. “Structural inefficiencies combined with rising costs of fossil fuel have resulted in expensive power for commercial and residential customers - average tariff of Rs10 per kWh (unit).” Therefore, it is not feasible for India to keep relying on fossil fuels for its growth, it said, adding the use of fossil fuels-based energy increases dependence on imports and results in drain of foreign exchange. “Stable and round-the-clock cost-efficient green power is the need of the hour. India needs to solve this problem to maintain its growth trajectory and reach $32 trillion GDP by 2047,” it said.