“Aspire to make India a world leader in new energy manufacturing”: Mukesh Ambani at Reliance Industries AGM 2022
India's largest private sector corporation, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) held its 45th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday (Aug. 29) making several big-ticket announcements from RIL's plan for 5G rollout in India to business and succession plans for its retail, petrochemicals, and new energy business.
Speaking of the company's business and financial performance, Reliance Industries Chairman, Mukesh Ambani stated that RIL made all-round progress across all its business in the year 2022 and became India's first company to have crossed $100 billion in annual revenue. The company's consolidated yearly EBITDA crossed the crucial milestone of 1.25 lakh crore.
Highlighting Reliance Industries' ambitious new energy business plans, he added, " we [RIL] have made rapid progress, and are well on our way to creating a manufacturing ecosystem which will be fully integrated with secure and self-sufficient supply chains backed by world-class talent and capability building on pillars on technological innovation through strategic partnership. This will deliver at scale, affordable, and the most modern green energy manufacturing business based in India for India and the world."
Here's a look at the key takeaways for new energy business:
New Giga factory for Power Electronics
Mukesh Ambani announced that Reliance will be establishing a new giga factory for power electronics. Power electronics is a key component linking the entire value chain of green energy. With the new giga factory, RIL aims to produce affordable and reliable power electronics. The company, in partnership with leading global players, will be building manufacturing capability for power electronics, design, and software systems integrating it with RIL's telecom, cloud computing, and IoT platforms.
Developing Manufacturing Ecosystem
Along with the new giga factory in power electronics, Ambani announced that Reliance has invested and partnered with leading companies globally in the areas of solar, battery, and electrolyzers for gaining access to unique technology and know-how.
Solar PV Manufacturing
For solar PV manufacturing, Reliance has acquired a 100% take in REC Solar -- a global leader in solar manufacturing. The 10 GW solar PV cell and module factory on REC technology will commence production by 2024 and the company has set a target to scale up the production to 20GW annual capacity in a phased manner by 2026. The facility will be the first-of-its-kind quartz to module facility globally and Reliance plans to further invest in glass and POE film manufacturing to ensure supply chain security and cost advantage.
Battery Manufacturing
We see battery as an integral part of providing long-duration energy storage for grid-scale renewable energy, green mobility, and stationary application, Ambani said.
To that end, the company is creating an end-to-end battery ecosystem, from battery materials to cell manufacturing leading up to packs and BMS, to deliver safe and reliable batteries with high energy density and fast charging capabilities. Over the past couple of months, Reliance has formed a strategic partnership with LithiumWerks, Faradion, and Ambri for producing superior performance batteries with minimal or less dependence on noble metals ensuring a secure supply of raw materials.
Reliance will start production of battery packs by 2023 and scale up to a fully integrated 5GWh annual cell to a pack manufacturing facility by 2024 and further scale up to 50GWh of annual capacity by 2027, Ambani underscored.
Green Hydrogen
Reliance, one of the largest producers of grey hydrogen globally aims to progressively commence the transition from grey hydrogen to green hydrogen by 2025.
"We have partnered with Stiesdal on pressurized alkaline electrolyzer technology. In addition, we are in advanced discussions with leading electrolyzer technology players globally to set up giga-scale electrolyzer facility at Jamnagar," Ambani said.
Succession Plan
Speaking of the leadership succession plan, Anant Ambani, Mukesh Ambani's youngest son was named as the leader of RIL's New Energy business.
RIL believes with the combined strengths of these new energy businesses will help India become a net exporter of green energy, expand its indigenous R&D base, and make India an intellectual property hub.
"Most importantly RIL aspires to make India a world leader in new energy manufacturing and credible alternative to China," Mukesh Ambani said.
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