Reliance Industries held its 45th Annual General Meeting last week with Chairman Mukesh Ambani making several announcements, including the launch of its 5G services in the country.
However, another key announcement that Ambani made was that he would "accelerate" the company's commitment to investing Rs 75,000 crore towards establishing a New Energy manufacturing ecosystem in Jamnagar.
In 2021, RIL had set aside Rs 75,000 crore for the renewable energy sector.
On Tuesday, RIL announced acquiring a 79.4 per cent stake for $32 million in the US-based developer of software management tools for solar energy generation, SenseHawk.
SenseHawk, founded in 2018, develops tools for the solar industry to help companies streamline processes and use automation. This acquisition is advantageous for RIL as SenseHawk aids in acceleration of solar projects from planning to production through streamlining processes and automation.
"Sensehawk, along with the other investments of the Company in New Energy, will be synergistic and create unique solutions with higher value to customers," RIL said in a release.
RIL chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani said, “In collaboration, we will drive down costs, enhance productivity and improve on-time performance to deliver the lowest LCoE for solar projects globally and make solar energy the go-to source of power in lockstep with our vision for solar energy. It is a very exciting technology platform and I am confident that, with RIL’s support, SenseHawk will grow multifold.”
Over the past two years, Reliance has invested $1.6 billion in building capabilities in new energy across EPC, technology and the supply chain.
SenseHawk, along with Reliance's other investments in new energy, will be synergistic and create unique solutions with higher value to customers, RIL said in a statement.
Ambani had also announced a new gigafactory for power electronics. This is in addition to the four gigafactories announced last year for photovoltaic solar panels, energy storage, green hydrogen and fuel cell systems.
Before SenseHawk, the conglomerate had made a number of acquisitions to boost its new energy play. In February this year, it completed a 40% acquisition of Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd (SWREL). SWREL has the expertise in executing 11-plus gigawatts of solar turnkey projects globally.
In December 2021, Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd acquired UK-based Faradion, a battery company, for $135 million.
Faradion holds patents on sodium-ion batteries, often described as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries.
In October 2021, it acquired Norway-based REC Solar for solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing for $771 million. REC specialises in making solar panels, photovoltaic cells and modules. Its business is spread across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacific. The company has also formed strategic partnerships with several green energy companies.
Reliance’s PV cell manufacturing facility in Gujarat’s Jamnagar will be based on REC’s technology and Ambani said they are aiming to manufacture 10 gigawatt (Gw) capacity.
Last month, during its 45th annual general meeting, Ambani had said that the conglomerate will start production of battery packs by 2023 and scale up to a fully integrated 5 GWh annual cell-to-pack manufacturing facility by 2024.
