Reliance Industries (RIL) sees its green energy business emerging as a growth engine for the company in the next 5-7 years, Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani told shareholders in the company’s annual report for 2021-22 (FY22).
Reliance had last year announced a Rs 75,000-crore investment over three years as part of its new energy push. This investment would be used to bridge the greeny energy divide, Ambani had said, by setting up a giga complex at Jamnagar to manufacture and fully integrate all critical components for the business. It would also include investment in partnerships, and future technologies.
“Over the next 12 months our investments across the green energy value chain will gradually start going live, scaling up over the next couple of years. This new growth engine holds great promise to outshine all our existing growth engines in just 5-7 years,” Ambani said.
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He said that RIL would continue to expand its existing businesses in terms of technology, innovation, scale and execution.
“India is set to become one of the world’s top three economies in the next couple of decades, and all of Reliance’s business verticals will play a leading role in achieving that. India and Reliance will aim to play a leading role in the world’s transition to clean energy,” Ambani said.
RIL aims to be net carbon zero by 2035. The company has entered into a series of partnerships, including with companies like Ambri in the US, Faradion in the UK and The Netherlands-based Lithium Werks in the energy storage space.
It also acquired REC Solar – a global technology leader in solar panel manufacturing. And picked up a 40 per cent stake in Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy.
The company said it had set up a new energy council chaired by Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, former director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, to guide the clean energy initiatives.
The nine-member council includes eight global technocrats, many of whom are advisers to governments worldwide.
RIL will also invest in creating an ecosystem of thousands of small and medium scale project consultants and installers pan-India to set up green energy generation projects in every nook and corner of the country. The company will also undertake large gigawatt scale turnkey green energy projects for power generating companies or large investors on its own.
“Reliance’s approach is to create a new energy ecosystem, transition to clean energy and convert clean energy to green chemicals,” the company said in its annual report.