RIL launches new clean energy business, to invest ₹75,000 crore in 3 years

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that the RIL will invest ₹75,000 crore in a new green and clean energy business over the next three years

Addressing the shareholders in RIL's 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday, Ambani said that the commencement of work on developing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar in the 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday.

The company, which earns about 60% of revenue from its hydrocarbon-fuelled energy operations, had last year set a target of becoming a net-zero carbon company by 2035 - a shorter time frame compared to the 2050 cutoff self-imposed by many of its global peers, including BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

This comes as energy giants around the world come under pressure to move towards a low-carbon future to help improve the environment.

"We have started work on developing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. It will be amongst the largest such integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world."

Reliance will build solar manufacturing units, a battery factory for energy storage, a fuel cell-making factory and an electrolyzer unit to produce green hydrogen as a part of the business, Ambani said.

Sketching a roadmap of the mega project, Ambani said, "Jamnagar was the cradle of our old energy business. Jamnagar will also be the cradle of our new energy business."

He also informed his shareholders the RIL plans to build four Giga Factories to manufacture and integrate all critical components of New Energy ecosystem – solar photovoltaic module factory, energy storage battery factory, electrolyser factory, fuel cell factory.

"Reliance will thus create and offer a fully integrated, end-to-end renewables energy eco-system," he said. Ambani also announced that the company will invest over 60,000 crore in these initiatives over the next 3 years.

Aong with that, Amabi also said that RIL will invest an additional ₹15,000 cr in value chain, partnerships and future technologies, including upstream and downstream industries. Thus, our overall investment in New Energy business will be ₹75,000 cr in 3 years.

Ambani also said that RIL will build two additional divisions to further strengthen this ecosystem. First, a dedicated Renewable Energy Project Management and Construction Division. Second, a dedicated Renewable Energy Project Finance Division.

"With these new initiatives, Reliance will put Gujarat and India on world solar and hydrogen map. All our products will proudly proclaim ‘Made in India, by India, for India and for the world," he said.

Ambani also added that Reliance will set up 100 GW of solar energy by 2030.

Last year, he had announced a 15-year commitment to become net carbon zero by 2035.

"The age of fossil fuels, which powered economic growth globally for nearly three centuries, cannot continue much longer," he said.

"In 2016, we launched Jio with the aim of bridging the Digital Divide in India. Now, in 2021, we are launching our new energy business with the aim of bridging the green energy divide in India and globally.