Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on October 12 said that its unit Reliance New Energy Solar Limited (RNESL) has partnered with Stiesdal A/S to develop and manufacture hydrogen electrolysers. RNESL has been given the licence for this, it said in an exchange filing.
Stiesdal is a Danish company that develops and commercialise technologies on climate change mitigation.
RNESL, incorporated on June 7 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has recently made a foray into the solar business by buying REC Solar for $771 million, which has many promising technologies in its kitty.
REC Solar has been granted 446 patents in utility and design, and has another 154 patents awaiting clearance.
Speaking after signing the agreement, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said: “We at Reliance see this cooperation agreement with Stiesdal as yet another opportunity to implement our philosophy of ‘Caring for the Planet’ and ‘Caring for the People’. It is an important step towards fulfilling our commitment to accelerate India’s transition to green energy benefitting from our vast solar energy sources and scaling up innovative and leading technologies to meet this objective. We aim to leverage Stiesdal’s impressive portfolio of climate technologies to serve India market and work together to make this portfolio a global pace setter.”
“In partnership with Stiesdal, we will strive to achieve our stated goal of offering hydrogen energy under $1 per kg in 1 decade – the 1-1-1 target for Green Hydrogen. Reliance is committed to making the greatest contribution to the National Hydrogen Mission announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day this year. Our vision is to put India on global hydrogen map and fulfil the developmental aspirations of 1.35 billion Indians,” he added.
Henrik Stiesdal, CEO of Stiesdal A/S, said, “We are excited to enter into this agreement with Reliance New Energy Solar Limited, the New Energy platform of India’s largest industrial company. As a company, we are committed to the fight against climate change, seeking to deliver the largest possible impact in the shortest possible time. For us, there could be no greater impact than seeing our technology scaled up for use in the world’s largest democracy.”
RNESL is to undertake activities relating to solar energy, including furthering RIL’s considerably big ambitions in its solar-power business. RIL hopes to generate 100GW annually by 2030, towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to generate 450GW of renewable energy by the same year.
In August, RNESL had participated in a $144 million investment in long-energy-storage-systems maker Ambri, along with Paulson & Co, Bill Gates and other investors. RNESL is to invest $50 million to acquire 4.3 million shares of preferred stock in Ambri. The two companies are also in talks to build a large-scale battery manufacturing facility in India, which could bring down costs for RIL’s green-energy push.
RIL’s new-energy vision, which was shared at the conglomerate’s annual general meeting (AGM) in June, includes the setting up of a 5,000-acre fully-integrated complex in Jamnagar. The Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex will have gigafactories to manufacture solar photovoltaic cells, advanced energy storage batteries, electrolysers and fuel cells.
The RNESL-Stiesdal pact was announced three days after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, on her official visit to India, met PM Modi for a bilateral summit. The agreements inked by the two sides included a ‘Green Strategic Partnership’.
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Source: News18