Reliance chairman outlines plans for HJT solar modules, sodium-ion batteries 

Mukesh D Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), said today the company remains focused on fast-track execution of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Manufacturing Complex at Jamnagar, Gujarat. 

The Group’s priority in the new energy business is to deliver a fully integrated end-to-end solar PV manufacturing ecosystem. “This will be one of the world’s largest, most technologically advanced, flexible, and cost-competitive solar gigafactory globally and will be converting sand into solar PV modules,” said Ambani while addressing RIL’s 46th Annual General Meeting. 

The solar PV gigafactory will manufacture modules, cells, wafers, ingots, polysilicon, and glass at a single location in Jamnagar. It will deploy heterojunction technology (HJT) to manufacture one of the highest-efficiency solar PV cells and modules globally for utility-scale and rooftop power generation.

Ambani said they target to bring this factory on stream in a phased manner by the end of 2025.

Further, the Group will leverage its engineering and construction capabilities and giga-scale manufacturing ecosystem to accelerate and enable the installation of at least 100 GW of renewable energy generation by 2030.

Ambani added that RIL is concurrently focused on setting up a battery gigafactory by 2026. The battery gigafab will manufacture battery chemicals, cells and packs, leading up to containerized energy storage solutions, and will include a battery recycling facility to deliver an integrated ecosystem. 

“We will start with lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) technology, which has been proven at scale for safety, stability, and life, targeting to produce LFP-based solutions at world-beating lifecycle costs,” said Ambani.

“Simultaneously, RIL is focused on fast-tracking commercialization of sodium-ion battery technology. We will build on our technology leadership position by industrializing sodium-ion cell production at megawatt level by 2025 and rapidly scale up to gigawatt scale thereafter.”

RIL will deploy energy storage at megawatt scale with wind and solar power generation in the next few quarters at Jamnagar. This will be followed by grid-scale deployment of batteries to make power available round-the-clock for the company’s captive requirements and for India’s growing energy needs.

RIL is also setting up a fully integrated, automated giga-scale electrolyzer manufacturing facility. “This will enable us to establish large-scale green hydrogen production at Jamnagar, gradually transition our captive requirements, and simultaneously integrate with green ammonia and green methanol production for domestic and international markets,” said Ambani.